



I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.^ 

' 

I Shelf i.fTiS"! L 

I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

L 


/ 




w. 



• • 



t 






I, 


1 

1 


• I 


* 


\ 


Tt 


t 


\ 



■ ‘V 


J 


J 

" II 

I 

I 


\ 


I ‘ 

» . 

\ 

h 


• ; 
■ 1 












*, 


' "‘v*’' I 




i4 


j j 


1 


»: 


t « 


'ifp' . ^ 

*■ • v .• • 
^5': 




"rki •■^' "V' 

“ > 


<•». 


rf.-. 




k w 


■■*•*. . » 






4 r 






im 


* — 


<1 . 


1W» 


«" ■ . 


7vT 


t 




I 




k, 


, ‘y% 


*1 






mV 


• I. 


•' ♦ 


> i-‘#* 




» fe 4 


» -« 


« I 


"%t- , 'v“ •' /» 

16^ »V. ■^^^-: 

» .•• . .2s 




>v 


♦, 


A . 


JT*/. 


* • 


• « 




;> 


■ ®r>T *. 

A •* *4.. • 




•s# 








s • 






/• 


^ %4» 


• s\ 


'J- 


.• <■ 


•*' 


m 


, « 


• r 




wi 


L * 










• * 


it 


lU 


V*T 


•» 










'* •-' I* ’All 

» X £- 
^ U’V ' *1 a. * 1 ! 

- • * r, 


:rfX 


r • I? 




« « 


r a ■■>■ ”* 

... .-^r- .7 - ^.v. 

|•-.■.^.•rJ '>a 




♦ • 








t‘‘ 1 


\ '*u 


« f 


t 







t 






C- 



o 






KANANA! O, KANANA!” CKIKU the old man ANGKILY 




THE LANCE OF KANANA 


A STORY OF ARABIA 


BY 

ABD EL ARDAVAN 

French] 

Author of “Arctics and TropicL” “Our Boys in Ireland," 

and others 


ILLUSTRATIONS BY GARRETT 

2 , 


BOSTON 

D. LOTHROP COMPANY 

WASHINGTON STREET OPPOSITE BROMFIELD 



V 


07- UO'ii’ & 



Copyright, 1892. 

BY 

D. Lothbop Company. 


Encircled by the fiery, trackless sand, 

A fainting Arab halted at a well 
Held in the hollow of the desert’s hand. 

Empty ! Hope vanished, and he gasped and fell. 
At night the West Wind wafted o’er the land 
The welcome dew, a promise to foretell : 

Hers this result, for which she bade him stand. 


CONTENTS. 

I. 

THE COWARD OF THE BENI SADS . . 7 

II. 

THE OLD sheik’s PROMISE . . .16 

III. 

AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT HOR . . 25 

IV. 

THE PROMISE ...... 36 

V. 

LED BY A WHITE CAMEL . . .52 

VI. 

KANANA AND THE CALIPH ... 62 

VII. 

A PRIZE WORTH WINNING . . .77 


CONTENTS 


VIII. 

TO SEEK THE BENI SADS 

IX. 

FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA 

X. 

kanana’s third mission 

XL 

THE SACRED GIRDLE 

XII. 

kanana’s messengers . 

XIII. 

THE LANCE OF KANANA 


88 

104 

119 

131 

140 

152 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


“ O, Kanana! 0, Kanana!” cried the old man 

angrily Frontis. 

On the summit of Mount Hor . . . .41 
“ Dost thou believe Kanana spoke in fear ? ” . 71 

The silent figure demanded and received respect 95 
Kneeling, he received the blessing . . .127 
“ I gave it him,” said Kahled solemnly . . 169 



r 


P 











4 





I 



r 


- 1 






I.' • 






» 







THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


I. 

THE COWARD OF THE BENI SADS. 

1^ ANANA was an Arab — a Bedouin boy 
of many years ago, born upon the desert, 
of the seed of Ishmael, of the tribe of Beni 
Sad. 

It seems well-nigh impossible that the Bed- 
ouin boy could have lived who was not ac- 
customed to the use of the sword and lance, 
long before he reached the dignity of manhood. 

The peculiar thing about Kanana was that 
he never held a lance in his hand but once ; 
yet many a celebrated sheik and powerful 
chieftain of his day lies dead, buried, and for- 
gotten long ago, while the name of Kanana is 

still a magic battle-cry among the sons of Ish- 
9 


10 THE COWARD OF THE BENI SADS. 

mael, and his lance is one of the most precious 
relics of Arabia. 

The old mothers and the white-haired vet- 
erans love to tell the story of the lance of 
Kanana ; their black eyes flash like coals of Are 
when they say of it that it rescued Arabia. 

The Beni Sad was a powerful tribe of roving 
Bedouins. Kanana was the youngest son of 
the venerable chief ; the sheik who in the days 
of his strength was known from the Euphrates 
to the sea as The Terror of the Desert. 

By a custom older than the boyhood of King 
David it fell to the lot of the youngest son to 
tend his father’s sheep. The occupation was 
not considered dignified. It was not to Ka- 
nana’s liking and it need not have lasted long ; 
for The Terror of the Desert thought more of 
making warriors than shepherds of his sons, 
but greatly to his father’s disgust Kanana re- 
fused to exchange his shepherd staff for a war- 
rior’s lance. It was not that he loved the staff, 
but that he objected to the lance. 


THE COWARD OP THE BENI SADS. 11 


The tribe called Kanana effeminate because 
he was thoughtful and quiet, where other boys 
were turbulent, and as he grew older and the 
boyish fancy became a decided conviction 
against the combats constantly going on be- 
tween the different tribes, they even called 
him a coward and said that he did not dare 
to fight. 

There is but one name more bitter than 
“ coward ” to the Arab. That name is “ traitor,” 
and after being called a coward almost all his 
life, the very last words which Kanana heard 
from the lips of his countrymen came in frantic 
yells, calling him a traitor. 

To-day, however, it is always with throbbing 
hearts and flashing eyes that they repeat the 
story of The Lance of Kanana that rescued 
Arabia. 

Until he was five years old, Kanana rolled 
about in the sand and sunshine, like the other 
children, with nothing on him but a twisted 
leather cord, tied round his waist. 


12 THE COWARD OF THE BENI SADS. 

Then, for five years, according to the custom 
of his people, he helped the women of his 
father’s tent ; shaking the goat-skin filled with 
cream till it turned into butter ; watching the 
kedder upon the fire, drying the buttermilk 
to be ground into flour, and digging kemma, 
which grow like truffles, under the sand. 

After he was ten, for three years he watched 
the sheep and goats and the she-camels. That 
was the regular course of education through 
which all Bedouin boys must pass. 

When he reached the age of Ishmael, when 
he was sent away with Hagar by Abraham, 
he was supposed to drop all menial labor and 
take his place among men ; making a posi- 
tion for himself according to the fighting quali- 
ties which he possessed. 

Kanana’s fighting qualities, however, were 
only exhibited in the warfare which now began 
between him and his father. 

There were at that time very few occupa- 
tions open to the Bedouin boy. The tribe was 


THE COWARD OF THE BENI SADS. 13 


celebrated for its men of learning and boasted 
the most skillful physicians in all Arabia ; but 
they had all won their first laurels with the lance, 
and none of them wanted Kanana. 

Three times his father came to him with the 
question : ‘‘ Are you ready to be a man ? ” and 
three times Kanana replied, “ My father, I can 
not lift a lance to take a life, unless it be for 

i 

Allah and Arabia.” 

How he came by a notion so curious no Arab 
could tell. The lad well knew the old decree 
that the hand of the Ishmaelite should be 
against every man, and every man’s hand 
against him. He knew that every Arab of the 
desert lived by a warfare that was simply mur- 
der and robbery. Was he not an Arab, and an 
Ishmaelite ? 

Alone, among the sheep and camels, he had 
thought out his own theory. Kanana said to 
himself : “ 1 am taught that Allah created these 
animals and cares for them, and that I cannot 
please him if 1 allow them to suffer; it must 


14 THE COWAKD OF THE BENI SADS. 


be surely that men are more precious to Allah 
than animals. Why should we kill one another, 
even if we are Arabs and Ishmaelites ? ” 

The menial tasks still allotted to Kanana 
grew more and more irksome. His punishment 
was far more keen than the tribe supposed; 
no one dreamed of the sharp cringe of pain 
with which he heard even the children call 
him a coward. 

There were some faculties which Kanana 
possessed that made the warriors all envy him. 
He had a remarkable power over animals. Ko 
Beni Sad could ride a camel or a horse so 
fast as Kanana. The most refractory creature 
would obey Kanana. Then, too, Kanana was 
foremost in the games and races. No shep- 
herd’s eye was nearly so quick as Kanana’s 
to detect an enemy approaching the flocks at 
night. No young Bedouin, watching the 
ripening grain, could throw a stone from his 
sling so far and so accurately at the robber 
birds. 


THE COWARD OP THE BENI SADS. 15 


These accomplishments, however, only made 
his father the more angry that Kanana would 
not turn his gifts to some more profitable end. 

Every year for three months — from plant- 
ing to harvest-time — the Beni Sads encamped 
upon a river bank, on the outskirts of the 
Great Desert. 

The encampment numbered nearly five hun- 
dred tents set in four rows as straight as an 
arrow flies. 

These tents, of black goats’-hair cloth, were 
seven feet high in the center and five feet high 
on the sides. Some of them were twenty feet 
broad, and each was divided by a beautiful 
hanging white Damascus carpet. The men oc- 
cupied one side and the women and children 
the other. The favorite mare and the most 
valuable of the camels always slept by the tent, 
and the master’s lance stood thrust into the 
ground at the entrance. 

Far as the eye could reach, up and down the 
sluggish river, a field of ripening grain filled 


16 THE COWARD OF THE BENI SADS. 

the narrow space between the yellow water 
and the silver-gray of the desert sand. 

Here and there, through the grain-field, rose 
curious perches — platforms, constructed upon 
poles driven into the ground. Upon these 
platforms watchers were stationed when the 
grain began to head, and there they remained, 
night and day, till it was harvested, frightening 
the birds away. 

Once a day the women brought them food 
— buttermilk, dried and ground and mixed 
with melted butter and dates ; these same 
women renewed the supply of stones to throw 
at the birds. 

The watchers were old men, women who 
were not needed in the tents, and little chil- 
dren ; but all alone, this year, upon the most 
distant perch, sat Kanana. 

There was not one of the tribe but felt that 
he richly deserved this disgrace ; and Kanana 
could see no way to earn their respect, no way 
to prove himself a brave fellow. He was glad 


THE COWARD OF THE BENI SADS. 17 


they had given him the most distant perch, for 
there he could bear his hard lot, away from 
jests and jeers. 

The women who brought the food stopped 
for a long time at some of the perches, report- 
ing all the news, hut they never troubled 
themselves to relieve Kanana’s solitude. The 
perches were too far apart for conversation. 
Kanana had always time enough to think, and 
as the grain grew yellow this year, he came to 
two positive conclusions. He firmly resolved 
that before the reapers entered that field he 
would do something to convince his people 
that he was not a coward ; failing that, he 
would hang his head in shame, acknowledge 
that they were right, and fly forever from 
their taunts. 


n. 


THE OLD sheik’s PROMISE. 

HE sun was beating fiercely down upon 



Kanana’s perch, but be had not noticed 
it. The pile of stones beside him for his sling, 
were almost hot enough to burn his hand, but 
he did not realize it, for he had not touched 
them for a long time. The wooden dish of 
paste and dates stood in the shadow of the 
perch. He had not tasted them. 

The pile of stones grew hotter and hotter. 
The hungry birds ate and quarreled and ate 
with no one to disturb them. The Bedouin 
boy sat crosslegged on his perch, heedless of 
everything, twisting and untwisting the leather 
cords of his sling, struggling to look into the 
mists that covered up his destiny. 


18 


THE OLD sheik’s PROMISE. 


19 


“ Hi, there ! you slothful son of a brave 
father! Look at the birds about you! Are 
you dead, or only sleeping?” sounded the dis- 
tant but shrill and painfully distinct voice of 
an old woman who, with two children much 
younger than Kanana, occupied the next perch. 

Kanana roused himself and sent the stones 
flying from his sling till there was not a bird 
in sight. Then he sank into deep thought 
once more; with his head resting upon his 
hands he became oblivious to everything. 

Suddenly he was roused by the sound of 
horses’ hoofs upon the sandy soil, a sharp 
rustling in the drying grain. He looked up, 
as thoroughly startled as though he had been 
sleeping, to see approaching him the one person 
than whom he would rather that any or all of 
the tribe of Beni Sad should find him negligent 
at his post of duty. 

It was his father. 

« O, Kanana! Kanana ! ” cried the old man 
angrily. “ Thou son of my old age, why didst 


20 


THE OLD sheik’s PROMISE. 


thou come into the world to curse me ? When 
thou shakest the cream the butter is spoiled ! 
When thou tendest the sheep they are stolen ! 
When thou watchest the grain it is eaten be- 
fore thy face ! What shall a father do with a 
son who will neither lift his hand among men 
or bear a part with women ? And now, when 
all the miseries of life have taken hold upon 
me and the floods cover me, thou sittest at 
thine ease to mock me ! ” 

Kanana sprang down from his perch. Kneel- 
ing, he touched his forehead to the ground. 

“ My father, slay me and I will take it as a 

% 

mercy from thy hand. Or, as I am fit for 
nothing here, bid me go, and among strangers 
I will beg. But thou shalt not, my father, 
speak of me as ungrateful, un filial. I know 
of no flood of sorrow that has come down 
upon thee.” 

“Thouknowest not what they all know?” 
exclaimed the old man fiercely. 

“ I know of nothing, my father. Since I 


THE OLD sheik’s PROMISE. 


21 


came into the field, three weeks ago, no one 
has spoken to me but to chide me.” 

“ Then know now,” replied the sheik re- 
proachfully, “ that of thy two brave brothers 
who went with the last caravan, one has re- 
turned, wounded and helpless, and the other, 
for an old cause of blood between our tribes, 
has been made a prisoner by Raschid Airikat. 
The whole caravan, with the white camel at 
its head, Raschid has taken, and he has turned 
with it toward Damascus.” 

“ Thy part of the caravan was very small, 
my father,” said Kanana. “ Only four of the 
camels were thine, and but for the white camel 
they were all very old. Their burdens, too, 
saving my brothers, were only honey and clay 
dust, of little value.” 

This was the simple truth and evinced, at 
least, a very practical side to Kanana’s mind ; 
but it was not the kind of sympathy which 
the sheik desired, and his anger burst out 
afresh against Kanana. 


22 


THE OLD sheik’s PROMISE. 


<‘Ay, thou tender of flocks, and sleeper!” he 
cried. “ Wouldst thou teach me the value of 
camels and merchandise, to comfort me? And 
hast thou fixed the price of ransom which 
Airikat will demand, or slay thy brother ? And 
hast thou reckoned up the value of the white 
camel which could not be bought for gold, as 
It brought to thy father and thy father’s father 
all their abundance of good ? Answer me, if 
thou art so wise. Oh, that I had a son remain- 
ing who could lift a lance against this Airikat 
as bravely as he hurls his empty words at an 
old father ! ” 

“ My father,” said Kan ana earnestly, “ give 
me a horse, a sack of grain, a skin of water, 
and I will follow after Raschid Airikat. I will 
not slay him, but, by the help of Allah, I will 
bring back to thee thy white camel with my 
brother seated upon his back.” 

The old sheik made a gesture of derision : 
“ Thou wisp of flax before a fire ! Thou reed 
before a whirlwind ! Get thee back to thy 


THE OLD sheik’s PROMISE. 


23 


perch and thy birds, and see if thou canst keep 
awake till sundown. Harvesting will begin 
with the daylight to-morrow. See that thou 
workest then.” 

Kanana rose to his feet. Looking calmly 
into the old sheik’s angry face, he replied : 

“ My father, I will watch the birds till sun- 
down. Then let others do the reaping. Ka- 
nana, whom thou scornest, will be far away 
upon the desert, to seek and find his brother.” 

“ Did 1 not say 1 would not trust a horse to 
thee ? ” exclaimed the old man, looking at him 
in astonishment. 

“ These feet of mine can do my bidding well 
enough,” replied Kanana. “And by the beard 
of the Prophet they shall do it till they have 
returned to thee thy son and thy white camel. 
I would do something, O, my father, that 1 
too might have thy blessing and not thy curse. 
It is the voice of Allah bids me go. Now 
say to me that if I bring them back then 
thou wilt bless me, too, ay, even though still 


24 


THE OLD sheik’s PROMISE. 


1 will not lift a lance, unless it be for Allah 
and Arabia.” 

The aged warrior looked down in a sort of 
scornful pity upon his boy, standing among the 
stalks of grain ; half in jest, half in charity, he 
muttered, “Yes, then 1 will bless thee,” and 
rode away. 

The harvesting began, as the old sheik had 
said, with the next daylight, but Kaiiana was 
not among the reapers. 

Few so much as missed him, even, and those 
who did, supposed that he had hidden himself 
to avoid their jests. 

Only the sullen sheik, bowed under his afflic- 
tion, thought often of Kanana as he rode up 
and down the line. He remembered his looks, 
his words. He wondered if he could have 
been mistaken in the boy. He wished he had 
given him the horse and that he had blessed 
him before he went away. 


III. 


AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT HOR. 

rjj^HE moment the sun sank into the billows 
of sand Kanana had left his perch. 

From the loaded stalks about him he 
gathered a goat’s-hair sack of grain and fastened 
it upon his back. There was no one to whom 
he need say farewell, and, armed only with his 
shepherd’s staff, he started away upon the 
desert, setting his course to the north and west. 

Before he had gone far he passed a lad of 
about his own age who had come from the 
encampment to hunt for desert rats. Had 
Kanana seen him he would have made a wide 
detour, but the boy lay so still upon the sand 
that the first Kanana knew of his presence 

was when a low sarcastic voice uttered his name. 
25 


26 


AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT HOR. 


“Kanana!” it exclaimed. “Thou here! 
Dost thou not fear that some rat may bite 
thee? Whither darest thou to go, thus, all 
alone, and after dark, upon the sand ? ” 

Fire flashed from Kanana’s eyes. His hand 
clutched his shepherd staff and involuntarily 
he lifted it ; but the better counsel of his curi- 
ous notions checked the blow. Tt was so dark 
that the boy upon the sand did not notice the 
effect of his taunts and knew nothing of his 
narrow escape. He only heard the quiet voice 
of Kanana as presently it meekly replied to 
his question : 

“ I go to Mount Hor.” 

It was an answer so absurd that the boy 
gave it no second thought and by the time that 
the footsteps of Kanana had died away the rat 
hunter had as utterly forgotten him as though 
he had never existed. 

To Mount Hor ? 

Kanana had only the most imperfect infor- 
mation to guide him. He knew that the Beni 


AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT HOR. 


27 


Sad caravan had been for some days upon the 
road southward, to Mecca, when it was cap- 
tured by Raschid Airikat and turned at an 
angle, northward, toward Damascus. 

Seen from a great distance, over the sea of 
sand, the solitary peak of old Mount Hor, where 
Aaron, the great high priest of Israel was 
buried, forms a startling beacon. By day or 
night, it rises clear and sharp against the sky, 
guiding the caravans northward, from Arabia to 
Jerusalem and Damascus, and southward from 
Syria to Medina and Mecca ; while the fertile 
oasis about it is the universal resting-place. 

Kanana was not at all sure that the caravan 
would not have passed Mount TIor long before 
he could reach it ; but if so, it must in time 
return that way, and in any case, of all Arabia 
Mount Hor was the one spot where he could 
be sure to gather further information from 
passing caravans. 

He knew his path upon that shifting sand as 
well as an Indian knew his way through the 


28 


AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT HOR. 


trackless forests of New England. With the 
sun and stars above him, any Arab would 
have scorned the idea of being lost in Arabia, 
and through the long night with strong and 
steady strides Kanana pressed onward toward 
Mount Hor. 

As the harvest moon rose above the desert, 
behind him, the Bedouin boy was softly chant- 
ing from the second sura of A1 Koran : 

“ God, there is no God but him; 

The Living I The Eternal. 

Slumber doth not overtake him, 

Neither Sleep. 

And upholding all things. 

To him is no burden. 

He is the Lofty and the Great.” 

His long, black shadow fell over the silver 
sand, and, watching it, he chanted the Koran 
again : 


“ God is God. Whatever of good betideth thee 
cometh from him. 

“ Whatever of evil is thine own doing.” 


AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT HOR. 


29 


Suddenly a speck appeared upon the distant 
horizon. None but the keen eye of a shepherd 
would have seen it, in the night, but Kanana 
watched it as it quivered and wavered, disap- 
pearing as it sank into a valley in the rolling 
sand, appearing again, like a dory on the ocean, 
each time a little nearer than before. 

Kanana noted the direction the speck was 
taking, and he made a wide path for it ; he 
crouched among the sand shrubs when it came 
too near. 

First a small party of horsemen passed him, 
the advance guard of a moving tribe. Then 
came the main body of men upon camels and 
horses ; but the only sounds were made by the 
feet of the animals and the clanking of the 
weapons. The she-camels with their young 
followed ; then the sheep and goats driven by 
a few men on foot; next, the camels laden 
with the tents and furniture; last of all the 
women and children of the tribe accompanied 
by another armed escort. 


30 


AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT HOR. 


From all that company there was not a 
sound but of the sand and the trappings. There 
was nothing but shadows, swinging, swaying 
shadows, moving like phantoms over the white 
sand, as the trailing train went gliding on, in 
that mysterious land of shadows and silhouettes. 

There was nothing in it that was weird to 
Kanana, however. He hid himself simply as 
a precaution. He had often been a part of 
such a caravan, and he knew from experience, 
that if a solitary Arab were found upon the 
desert, he would very quickly be forced to help 
drive the sheep and goats, and kept at it until he 
could make his escape. Any Arab boy would 
have hidden himself. 

Long before Kanana’s next halt the sun 
was pouring down his furious heat. To his 
great good fortune he came upon a bowlder 
rising out of the sand ; there he quickly made a 
place for himself where the sun could not reach 
him and lying down slept until night. 

Only one who has walked upon a desert, hour 


AT THE FOOT OP MOUNT HOR. 


31 


after hour, parched with thirst and utterly ex- 
hausted in the fierce glare and heat can ap- 
preciate the Bible picture of “ the shadow of a 
great rock in a dry and thirsty land.” 

Had he not found this rock Kanana would 
simply have dug a hole in the sand and forced 
himself into it. 

Here and there as he pressed on Kanana saw 
grim skeletons of men and animals as they lay 
whitening among the sand shrubs, but he paid 
them little attention. Before the sun had set, 
upon the second day, he beheld the distant 
summit of Mount Hor cutting sharply into the 
blue sky. 

The sight renewed his strength. Hoar after 
hour he pressed onward, with his eyes fixed 
upon the tomb of Aaron, a white monument 
upon the summit of the mountain, flashing 
like snow as the moon rose in the clear, blue- 
black sky. 

Kanana did not pause again until he fell upon 
his knees beside the stream which rises in a 


32 


AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT HOR. 


spring upon Mount Hor, to die in the sand, not 
far from its base. He plunged into the water ; 
then, dressing himself again, he lay down upon 
the bank to sleep. He awoke with the first 
gray lighting in the east, when the air of a 
desert is almost cold enough to freeze. 

He had now nothing more to do till he could 
obtain some information from passing caravans. 
It would soon be sunrise, the hour for morning 
prayer, and, to warm himself while he waited, 
he walked along the banks of the stream. They 
were blue as the very sky, with masses of for- 
get-me-nots. 

Suddenly Kan ana paused. He started back. 
His eyes dilated, and his hand trembled till the 
shepherd staff fell, unheeded, to the ground. 
The next moment he dropped to the ground to 
examine the place more carefully. 

What was it? Only some marks upon the 
grass where a caravan had camped. The her- 
bage was matted here and there where the 
camels lay, and cropped short in little circles 


AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT HOR. 


33 


about each spot where they had eaten it as far 
as they could reach. 

Caravans were continually resting for the day 
under the shadow of Mount Hor. There was 
nothing remarkable in the fact that a cara- 
van had camped there, and had gone. They 
always move at night; not so much because 
it is cooler as because a camel will not eat at 
night, no matter how hungry he may be, and 
must be given the daylight or he will deliber- 
ately starve, 

A moment later Kanana was upon his feet 
again with a triumph in his eyes which clearly 
indicated his satisfaction. 

The grass about the spot was unevenly 
cropped ; there were straggling spears of green 
left standing in the center of each mouthful 
which the camel had taken. Upon one side 
the bees were clustering on the matted grass. 
A multitude of ants appeared upon the other 
side. The imprint left by the forefoot of the 
camel showed that it had been extended in 


V 


34 


AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT HOR. 


front of him, instead of being bent at the knee 
and folded beneath him. 

All this meant to the young Arab that the 
camel was old, that it was lame in the left 
knee, that it had lost a front tooth, that its 
burden on one side was honey, on the other 
the dust of river clay, to be used in the manu- 
facture of stucco. 

Had one of his father’s camels stood before 
him Kanana could not have been more sure. 
Nothing more was needed to assure him that 
Raschid Airikat, with the stolen camels, had 
left Mount Hor the night before, upon the trail 
leading southward into Arabia. 

His eyes flashed with excitement. My 
brother and the white camel are not ten hours 
from here, and they are on the road to Mecca or 
Medina,” he exclaimed as his fingers tightened 
about the staff. 

His white teeth glistened in a smile, as he 
added, “ They are mine ! or I am a coward ! ” 

He stood there, motionless, for a moment. 


AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT HOR. 


35 


his dark eyes instinctively turning southward. 
The magnitude of his task lay vividly before 
him. He recalled his father’s words : “ Thou 
wisp of flax' before a fire ! Thou reed before 
a whirlwind ! ” They served to strengthen him. 

The first step which lay before him was 
enough to test the courage of a brave man, and 
yet it was only a step toward a grand destiny. 

Suddenly starting from his revery, Kanana 
exclaimed : 

“I will do it! or I will consent to be known, 
forever, as the coward of the Beni Sads!” and 
turning he ran up the rocky sides of old Mount 
Hor, toward the white tomb of Aaron, whence 
he knew he could see far away over the great 
ocean of sand. 

It might be there would yet appear a speck 
upon the distant horizon, to guide him toward 
the retreating caravan. 


IV. 


THE PROMISE. 


P the steep sides of Mount Hor, Kan ana 



climbed, without waiting to look for a 
path. He saw nothing, heard nothing. He 
was all eagerness to reach the summit, in the 
faint hope that it might not be too late to see 
the departing caravan of Raschid Airikat. 

Unless a camel is fresh, unusually large and 
strong, or constantly urged, it rarely makes 
more than two miles an hour. It was not over 
ten hours since the robber sheik had left the 
oasis, and some of the camels were very old 
and exhausted. It was a foolish hope, no 
doubt, and yet Kan ana hoped that anything 
so large as a great caravan might still be 
distinguishable. 


36 


THE PROMISE. 


37 


Up, up, up he climbed — as fast as hands 
and feet could carry him. He no longer felt 
the cool air of early morning. He ijo longer 
looked about him to see the new sights of a 
strange oasis. 

He did not even pause to look away over 
the desert as he climbed. The highest point 
was none too high. He did not care how far 
he could see until he had gained the white 
tomb of Aaron, upon the very crest. 

Had he not been too thoroughly occupied 
with what was above him to notice what tran- 
spired about him and down below, he would 
have seen five Arab horsemen reach the stream 
by which he slept, almost as he began to climb. 

They were Mohammedan soldiers, thoroughly 
armed for war, and had evidently come from 
the northern borders of Arabia, where the vic- 
torious Mussulmans were triumphantly planting 
the banner of Islam. 

They had been riding hard, and both men 
and horses were exhausted. They hurried to 


38 


THE PROMISE. 


the water. The men hastily ate some food 
which they carried, and tethered their horses 
in Arab fashion, by a chain, one end of which 
is fastened about the forefoot of the animal 
and the other end about the master, to prevent 
then* being stolen while the master sleeps. 

The moment this was accomplished, the five 
men rolled themselves in their mantles, cover- 
ing their faces as well as their bodies, and lay 
down upon the grass to sleep. 

They were skilled in the art of making long 
journeys in the shortest possible time, and were 
evidently upon important business ; for an Arab 
is never in haste unless his mission is very 
important. 

Before Kanana reached the temple the men 
were soundly sleeping, and the horses, lying 
down to rest themselves, were still eating the 
grass about them, as a camel eats. 

Panting for breath, and trembling in his 
eager haste, Kanana reached the tomb of 
Aaron ; an open porch, with white pillars sup- 


THE PROMISE. 


39 


porting a roof of white, like a crown of eternal 
snow upon the summit of Mount Hor. 

Between the snowy pillars Kanana paused. 
One quick glance at the sky gave him the 
points of the compass, and shading his eyes 
from the glowing east, he looked anxiously to 
the south and west. 

Sand, sand, sand, in billows like great waves 
of an ocean, lay about him in every direction. 
Far away there were low hills, and a semblance 
of green which, to his practiced eye, meant a 
grove of date palms upon the banks of a stream. 
But nowhere, search as he would, was there 
the faintest speck to indicate the caravan. 

He was still anxiously scanning those distant 
hills when the first rays of the rising sun shot 
from the eastern horizon, flashing in a halo of 
glory upon the snow-white crown of old Mount 
Hor, before they touched the green oasis lying 
about its base. 

Never, in all the ages, had the sun come up 
out of the Arabian desert to see such a tableau 


40 


THE PROMISE. 


as its first bright beams illumined Aaron’s 
tomb. 

All absorbed in his eager search, Kanana 
stood upon the very edge of the white porch. 
One hand was extended, grasping his shep- 
herd’s staff, the other was lifted to shade his 
eyes. 

In his eagerness to reach forward, one foot 
was far before the other, and the knee was 
bent, as though he were ready to leap down 
the steep declivity before him. 

His turban, a large, square piece of cloth, 
was bound about his head with a camel’s-hair 
cord ; one corner was thrown back over his 
forehead, and a corner fell over each shoulder, 
like a cloak. His coat was sheep-skins stitched 
together. Summer and winter, rain and sun- 
shine, the Bedouin shepherd , wears that sheep- 
skin coat, as the best protection against both 
sun and frost. \ 

His bare feet rested firmly upon the white 
platform, and the arm that held the shepherd 



02s THE 6UM31IT UF MOUNT HOR, 




THE PROMISE. 


43 


staff was knotted with muscles which a strong 
man might have envied him. 

His beardless face was dark, but not so dark 
as to hide the eager flush which heightened the 
color in his cheeks, and his chest rose and fell 
in deep, quick motions from his rapid climb. 

His lips were parted. His dark eyes flashed, 
while the hand which shaded them stood out 
from his forehead as though trying to carry 
the sight a little farther, that it might pierce 
the defiles of those distant hills and the shadows 
of the date palm groves. 

The sun rose higher, and its full light fell 
across the young Ishmaelite. It was the signal 
for the morning call to prayer, and from the 
minaret of every mosque in the realm of Islam 
was sounding “La Illaha il Allah Mahamoud 
rousol il Allah.” Kanana did not need to hear 
the call, however. He instantly forgot his 
mission, and, a humble and devout Moham- 
medan, laid aside his staff and reverently faced 
toward Mecca to repeat his morning prayer. 


44 


THE PROMISE. 


Standing erect, with his open hands beside 
his head, the palms turned forward, he solemnly 
began the “Nummee Allah voulhamda.” With 
his hands crossed upon his breast he continued. 
Then he placed his hands upon his knees, then 
sat upon the floor. Then with his open hands 
upon the floor he touched his forehead to the 
platform as he repeated the closing words of 
the prayer. 

In this position he remained for some time, 
whispering a petition of his own for strength 
and courage to carry out the task which he had 
undertaken. 

There was something so solemn and impres- 
sive in the death-like stillness of the early 
morning, upon that solitary peak, that it almost 
seemed to Kanana that, if he listened, he should 
hear the voice of Allah, answering his prayer. 

Suddenly the silence was broken by a sharp 
cry, and another and another in quick succes- 
sion mingled with savage yells. 

It was not the voice of Allah, for which he 


THE PROMISE. 


45 


had been waiting, and Kanana sprang to his 
feet and looked anxiously about hira. 

The mountains of Arabia are not high. 
Among real mountains, Mount Hor would be 
but a rocky hill. Looking down, for the first 
time, Kanana saw the stream below hira, in its 
border of blue forget-me-nots, and could clearly 
distinguish the five soldiers who had so quickly 
fallen asleep upon its banks. 

It was a fearful sight which met his eyes. 
The five men were still lying there, but they 
were no longer sleeping. They were dead or 
dying; slain by three Bedouin robbers, who 
had crept upon them for the valuable prize of 
their horses, and who did not dare attempt to 
steal the animals while the masters were alive. 

It was almost the first time that Kanana’s 
eyes had rested upon a scene of blood, common 
as such scenes are among his countrymen, and 
he stood in the porch benumbed with horror, 
while the robbers tore from the bodies about 
them such garments as pleased them ; then 


46 


THE PROMISE. 


took their weapons, mounted three of the 
horses, and leading two rode quickly away to 
the north. 

There was no assistance which Kan an a could 
render the unfortunate men. The caravan was 
already a night’s march ahead of him and every 
moment that he lost must be redeemed by 
hurrying so much the faster under the burning 
sun, over the scorching sand, when, at the best, 
it was doubtful if flesh and blood could stand 
what must be required of it. 

With a shudder he turned from the terrible 
scene and began to descend the mountain. 
Soon he was upon the banks of the stream and 
passing close to the spot where the five bodies 
were lying. He would not run, but he hurried 
on, with his eyes fixed upon the ground before 
him. 

A faint sound caught his ear. He started, 
clutched his staff, and turned sharply about, 
thinking that the robbers had seen him and re- 
turned. It was only one of the unfortunate 


THE PROMISE. 


47 


soldiers who had been left for dead. He had 
raised himself upon his elbow, and was trying 
to attract Kan ana’s attention. 

“Water! water! In the name of Allah, 
give me water ! ” he gasped, and fell back 
unconscious. 

For a moment Kanana was tempted to hurry 
on. He did not want to go there, any more 
than he wanted to delay his journey ; but 
something whispered to him of the promises 
of the Koran to those who show mercy to the 
suffering ; that Allah would reward even a cup 
of water given to the thirsty. 

It required no little courage of the Bedouin 
boy, all alone under Mount Hor, but he reso- 
lutely turned back, filled with water the wooden 
cup which a shepherd always carries at his 
girdle, and poured it down the parched throat 
of the almost insensible man. 

“ Bless God for water ! ” he gasped. “ More ! 
give me more ! ” 

Kanana ran to the brook and filled the cup 


48 


THE PROMISE. 


again, but the poor man shook his head. It 
was too late. He was dying. 

Suddenly he roused himself. He made a 
desperate struggle to call back his failing senses, 
and, for a moment, threw off the hand of 
Death. 

He had almost given up, forgetting something 
of great importance. Steadying himself upon 
his elbow, he looked into Kanana’s face and 
said : 

“ You are a beardless youth, but you are an 
Arab. Listen to me. The mighty Prince 
Constantine, son of the Emperor Heraclius, is 
soon to leave Constantinople, at the head of a 
vast army of Turks and Greeks and Romans, 
like the leaves of the forest and the sand 
of the desert. He is coming to sweep the 
Arab from the face of the earth and the light 
of the sun. We were bearing a letter to the 
Caliph Omar, who is now at Mecca, telling 
him of the danger and asking help. If the 
letter does not reach him Arabia is lost and 


THE PROMISE. 


49 


the Faithful are destroyed. Would you see 
that happen ? ” 

Too frightened to speak and hardly compre- 
hending the situation, Kanana simply shook 
his head. 

The man made another effort to overcome 
the stupor that had almost mastered him. He 
caught from his clothing a letter, sealed with 
the great seal, and gasped : 

“ In the name of Allah, will you fly with this 
to the great caliph ? ” 

Hardly realizing what he said, Kanana re- 
peated : “ In the name of Allah, I will.” 

He took the letter and was hiding it in his 
bosom when the soldier grasped the cup of 
water, drank ravenously, and, with the last 
swallow, let the cup fall from lifeless fingers. 

Minute after minute passed, but Kanana did 
not move a muscle. His hand still touched the 
letter which he had placed in his bosom. His 
eyes still rested upon the lips that would never 
speak again. 


60 


THE PROMISE. 


His sacred promise had been pledged to fly 
with that letter to the great caliph at Mecca. 
It had been made in the name of Allah. It 
had been given to the man now lying dead be- 
fore him. There was no power that could 
retract it. It must be performed, and until 
it was performed no other consideration could 
retard his steps or occupy his thoughts. 

His lips parted and he muttered, angrily : “ Is 
this my reward for having given a cup of 
water to the thirsty ? ” Then it suddenly oc- 
curred to him that the caravan which he longed 
most of all to follow was also upon its way 
southward, and that, for the present at least, 
for either mission the direction was the same, 
and the demand for haste was great. 

He caught his staff from the ground and set 
his face toward Mecca, pondering upon the 
dying statement of the soldier till word for 
word it was fastened in his memory, and the 
thought that his mission was for Allah and 
Arabia urged him on. 


THE PROMISE. 


61 


It was an easy task to follow the trail of 
the caravan. The Bedouin would he a dis- 
grace to the desert who could not recognize 
in the sand the recent footprint of one of his 
own tribe or of a camel with which he was 
familiar, and who could not tell by a footprint 
whether the man or camel who made it carried 
a burden, often what that burden was, always 
whether he was fresh or exhausted, walking 
leisurely or hurrying. 

So Kanana hurried on, daily reading the 
news of the caravan before him as he went, 
testing his strength to the utmost before he 
rested, and starting again as soon as he was 
able ; over the sand and over the hills, through 
groves and villages and over sand again ; 
always toward Mecca. 


V. 


LED BY A WHITE CAMEL. 

"yN” the world-famous city of Mecca, two 
men stood by the arch that leads to the 
immortal Caaba. 

They were ‘engaged in an earnest conversa- 
tion, heedless of ever^hi^ about them, when 
the distant cry of a cafeiel driver sounded on 
the still air. 

Both of the men started and looked at each 
other in surprise. One of them said : 

“ A caravan at the gate at this time of day ! ” 
for it was several hours past mid-day and a 
caravan, in the ordinary course of things, 
reaches a city gate during the night or very 
early in the morning. 

Arabia was seeing troubled times, and every 
62 


LED BY A WHITE CAMEL. 


53 


one was on the alert for anything out of the 
accepted rule. 

The camel driver’s cry was repeated. The 
first speaker remarked : 

“ They have left the burdened camels at the 
Moabede gate and are entering the city.” 

With an anxious look upon his face the elder 
of the two replied : “ Either they have been 
hard pressed by an enemy or it is important 
news which brings them over the desert in 
such haste, in this insufferable heat.” 

The two men were evidently of great im- 
portance in the holy city. They were sur- 
rounded by powerful black slaves, who had all 
th^t they could do to keep the passers-by from 
pre^ng too close upon the elder man, in a de- 
sire to touch the hem of his garment. Many, 
in passing, knelt and touched their foreheads 
to the ground. Thus they waited the coming 
caravan. ’ ^ 

The first camel of an important caravan is 
led by a man who walks before it, through 


54 


LED BY A WHITE CAMEL. 


the narrow streets of a city, and his cry is 
to warn the crowd to clear the way ; there 
being no sidewalks, and, indeed, but very little 
street. 

“ There it comes,” said the younger of the 
two, as the long line of drowsy camels ap- 
peared, swinging, swinging, swinging along the 



1“ Led by a white camel,”' added the elder, 
and they both looked down the street. 

The lead camel was larger than the rest 
— much larger, and very much lighter col- 
ored ; a sort of dingy white, like a sheep 
before shearing. The chief of the caravan 
sat upon his back, as unmindful of every 
thing as though he were still upon the^ti^ack- 
less sand. 

It is not impossible that the sheik was really 
sleeping, and unconsciously grasping his ugly 
lance, while his Damascus blade hung ready 
by his side. 

He roused in a moment, however, for with 


LED BY A WHITE CAMEL. 


55 


many a grunt and groan the great, ungainly, 
and yet very stately, ships of the desert came 
slowly and drowsily to anchor in the court 
before the Caaba. 

“ Haji,” a naked little urchin muttered, look- 
ing up from his play ; but he should have 
known better. Haji means pilgrims, and these 
are no pilgrims. 

There are seasons when this city is one mass 
of humanity. Haji by hundreds and thousands 
throng the narrow streets, but these are Bed- 
ouins of the desert, bound upon some other 
mission than worshiping before the Caaba, kiss- 
ing the Black Stone or drinking the holy water 
of Zemzem. 

The leader of the white camel gave a pecu- 
liar pull to the rope hanging over his shoulder, 
attached to the animal’s bridle, and uttered a 
short, sharp word of command. 

Slowly, very slowly, the dignified, dingy 
creature, towering high above him, acknowl- 
edged the receipt of the order, but he gave no 


56 


LED BY A WHITE CAMEL. 


evidence that he was making any arrangements 
to obey. 

His response was simply a deliberate grunt 
and a weird and melancholy wail that came 
gurgling out of his long, twisting throat. He 
would not have hurried himself one atom, even 
for the sheik upon his back. 

A white camel is to the Arab what a white 
buffalo is to the Indian and a white elephant 
to the Ceylonese, and he fully appreciates his 
importance. 

He deliberately turned his woolly head quite 
about till his great brown eyes, with the droop- 
ing lids almost closed over them, could most 
conveniently look back along the line of lank, 
inferior camels, and gaunt and weather-beaten 
dromedaries, which had patiently followed him, 
day after day, to the temple court of immortal 
Mecca. 

He was so long about it that the leader re- 
peated the command and very slowly the camel 
brought his head back again, till his languid 


LED BY A WHITE CAMEL. 


57 


eyes looked drowsily down, in a sort of scorn- 
ful charity, upon the insignificant mortal at the 
other end of his halter. 

He had stood in the court of Mecca long be- 
fore that man was born and would doubtless 
guide caravans to the same spot long after he 
was buried and forgotten. 

'“You may be in haste, but I am not,” he 
seemed to say, and dreamily turned his eyes 
toward the black-curtained Caaba, as if to see 
how it had fared since his last visit. 

That Caaba, the Holy of Holies of the Mussul- 
man, is the most revered and possibly the most 
venerable of all the sacred buildings on the 
earth ; but the gentle, wistful eyes of the white 
camel were more practically drawn toward two 
or three date-palm-trees then growing beside 
it. When he had satisfied himself that the 
only green thing in sight was quite beyond 
his reach, he deliberately lowered his head, 
changed his position a little, and with another 
grunt and another melancholy wail sank upon 


58 


LED BY A WHITE CAMEL. 


his knees, then upon his haunches. With a 
deep sigh he lifted his head again still high 
above the head of his driver, and his drowsy 
eyes seemed saying to him : 

“Poor man! I kept you waiting, didn’t I ?” 

Then he quickly turned his head to the op- 
posite side, deliberately poking his nose into 
the passing throng, till, with a grunt of recog- 
nition, it touched the garment of one who was 
hurrying on among the crowd. 

It was evidently a Bedouin, but the wings 
of his turban were drawn together in front, so 
that no one could see his face. He responded 
to the greeting of the white camel, however, 
by laying his hand upon the creature’s nose as 
he passed. It was a motion which no one 
noticed, and a moment later he was out of 
sight. 

He was following a boy who had led him 
directly to the arch, where he paused, pointed 
to the elder of the two men standing there, 
briefly observing : 


LED BY A WHITE CAMEL. 


59 


“ It is he.” 

The Bedouin paused for a moment, as if 
struggling to collect his thoughts, then hurry- 
ing forward was the next to prostrate himself 
before the venerable man. As he rose he 
handed him a package, simply observing : 

“ A message to the Caliph Omar.” 

The great caliph quickly broke the seal 
and read ; then, turning to the bearer, asked 
sharply : “ And who art thou ? ” 

“ I am Kanana, son of the sheik of the Beni 
Sads,” replied the Bedouin boy, letting the 
wings of his turban fall apart that Omar might 
see his face. 

“ A beardless youth ! ” exclaimed the caliph. 
“ And dost thou know aught of the import of 
this letter ? ” 

Kanana repeated the dying words of the 
Arab soldier, which had so often escaped his 
lips as he urged his weary feet toward Mecca. 

“ ’Tis even so,” replied the caliph. « And 
how came living man to trust a boy like you 


60 


LED BY A WHITE CAMEL. 


to come alone, through the streets of Mecca, 
with such an errand ? ” 

“ I came alone with the letter from the oasis 
at Mount Hor,” replied Kanana, straightening 
himself up, with very pardonable pride, before 
the astonished eyes of the great caliph. 

Then he repeated, briefly, the circumstance 
which placed the letter in his keeping, and the 
dangers and trials and escapes of the three 
long weeks which had intervened while he 
carried it in his bosom ; each rising and setting 
sun finding it a little nearer to its destination. 

“Thcu art a brave youth,” said the caliph, 
“ a worthy son of the Terror of the Desert. 
Would to Allah that every Arab had thy heart 
and Heraclius himself, with all the world be- 
hind him, could not move the Faithful from 
their desert sands. And they shall not be 
moved ! No ! By the beard of the Prophet, 
they shall not be moved. Hear me, my son ; 
I will see more of thee. This is no place for 
conversation, where the wind bloweth into 


LED BY A WHITE CAMEL. 


61 


what ears it listeth. One of my slaves shall 
conduct you to my house. There I will meet 
you presently. Go, and Allah go with you.” 

Indicating the slave who should take Kanana 
in charge, the Caliph Omar turned abruptly 
away and showed the letter to the man with 
whom he had been conversing. 


VI 


KANANA AND THE CALIPH. 

UIDED by the black slave, Kanana passed 



out again under the arch, and walked 
the streets of Mecca, caring less and thinking 
less concerning what transpired about him than 
any one, before or since, who, for the first time, 
stood in the holy city. 

The narrow streets were densely crowded. 
Soldiers and merchants. Bedouins and city 
Arabs mingled with an array of every tribe 
Arabia could furnish. There were venders of 
all things pertaining to the necessities or luxu- 
ries of life ; water-carriers with goat-skins 
on their shoulders ; fruit-criers with wooden 
trays upon their heads ; donkeys laden with 
cumbersome baskets, beneath which they were 


62 


KANANA AND THE CALIPH. 


63 


almost lost to sight ; camels carrying packs of 
a thousand pounds weight upon their backs, as 
though they were bundles of feathers ; every- 
thing hustling and jostling, men and boys shout- 
ing and pushing for the right of way. 

They all turned out as best they could, how- 
ever, for the savage^lac^ slave of the great 
caliph, and by keeping close behind him Ka- 
nana always found an open space where he 
could walk without fighting for room. 

It was almost the first experience of the 
Bedouin boy in real city life, and the very first 
time that his bare feet had ever touched the 
beaten sand of the unpaved streets of his most 
sacred Mecca. 

He turned from the arch, however, without 
once glancing at the black-curtained Caaba, the 
Beitullah, or House of God, toward which 
three times a day he had turned his face in 
reverent devotion, ever since he had learned to 
pray. 

He followed the black slave onward through 


64 


KANANA AND THE CALIPH. 


the streets, without so much as looking at the 
walls of the houses that crowded close on 
either hand. 

He had fulfilled his vow. The packet he 
had sacredly guarded through many a hardship 
and danger and narrow escape was safely 
delivered. Now he was free to carry on the 
work for which he left the perch and the 
birds in the grain field of the Beni Sad. 

Sometimes he thought of the black slave 
before him, and wondered if, after all, he was 
quite free. And the thought troubled him. 

It seemed as though long years had passed 
since the day when his father met him with the 
news of Raschid Airikat’s capture of his brother. 
He had suffered privations enough for a life- 
time since then. More than once his life had 
hung by a slender thread. He could hardly 
imagine himself again sitting up on the perch, 
frightening the birds away, his life had so en- 
tirely changed ; his determination to keep the 
vow he made his father had grown stronger 


KANANA AND THE CALIPH. 


65 


every day ; only he realized more the magnitude 
of the task he had undertaken ; and he appre- 
ciated his father’s words : “ Tjiou wisp of 
straw before a fire ! Thou reed before a whirl- 
wind ! ” Still he gathered hope, because he 
was beginning to understand himself. 

The dangers and hardships of one enterprise 
he had met and overcome, and under the very 
shadow of the Caaba, the great caliph of Mecca 
had called him brave. 

Now he was eager for the next. There was 
no vital need of another interview with the 
caliph, and Kanana thought that if he could 
only escape from the black slave, by darting 
into a crowded alley, he could go at once about 
his own important business. 

For the first time Kanana looked about him. 
At the moment there was no opportunity, and 
while he watched for one, the slave turned sud- 
denly into a great gate, crossed a court paved 
with limestone, lifted a reed curtain, entered 
one of the most substantial stone structures of 


66 


KANANA AND THE CALIPH. 


Mecca, and indicated to Kanana the apartment 
in which he was to wait for the caliph. It was 
too late to escape. With all the patience and 
dogged submission to destiny so strongly devel- 
oped in the Bedouin, Kanana sat down upon a 
rug. There were luxurious ottomans about the 
room, and divans taken from the palaces of 
Persian princes, but the Bedouin boy preferred 
the desert seat. Much as though he were still 
upon the perch, he laid his staff beside him and 
buried his face in his hands. The magnificence 
in this chamber of Omar’s official residence 
only disturbed his thoughts. 

He became so deeply buried in his plans 
that he had entirely forgotten where he was, 
when the rattle of the reed curtain roused him 
and, starting from his dream, he found the 
great caliph entering. 

Reverently touching his forehead to the 
floor, Kanana remained prostrate until the 
caliph was seated. Then he rose and stood 
leaning upon his staff while the old ruler 


KAISTANA AND THE CALIPH. 


67 


silently surveyed him. It seemed to Kanana 
that his very heart was being searched by those 
grave and piercing eyes. 

Upon the shoulders of the Caliph Omar 
rested the fate of Islam for future ages ; his 
word was law wherever Mohammed was re- 
vered. He could have little time to waste 
upon a shepherd boy ; yet he sat for a long 
while, silently looking at Kanana. When he 
spoke, it was only to bid him repeat, at greater 
length, the story of how he came by the letter 
and how he brought it to Mecca. 

“ My son,” he said, when Kanana had fin- 
ished, “thou hast done what many a brave 
man would not have ventured to attempt. 
Ask what reward thou wilt of me.” 

“ I would have the blessing of the Caliph 
Omar,” Kanana replied. 

“ That thou shall have, my son ; and camels, 
or sheep, or gold. Ask what thou wilt.” 

“ I have no use for anything. I ask thy 
blessing, my father, and thy word to bid me go.” 


68 


KANANA AND THE CALIPH. 


“ Thon art a strange lad,” replied the caliph. 
“Thou art like, and yet unlike the Terror of 
the Desert. I command thee, my son, say 
what I can best do for thee.” 

“ Give me thy blessing, then let me go, my 
father,” repeated Kanana, kneeling. “More 
than that, if I took it, I should leave at thy gate.” 

Omar smiled gravely at the boy’s obstinacy. 

“ If I can do nothing for thee, there is yet 
something which thou canst do for me. Kah- 
led is the greatest general who fights for the 
Prophet. He will soon reach Bashra, with 
thirty thousand warriors. He will turn to 
enter Persia, but this letter must reach him, with 
my orders that he go again to Syria. Bashra 
is three weeks from here, and a company of 
soldiers will start to-night to carry the messages, 
while I send far and wide for the Faithful to 
join him. It would be well, my son, for thee 
to go with the soldiers, to give the story to 
Kahled by word of mouth.” 

“ The way is hard. The sand is deep and 


KANANA AND THE CALIPH. 


69 


dry between Mecca and Bashra,” said Kanana. 
The caliph looked in some surprise upon the 
hardy Bedouin boy. 

“ Hardship should not be hard to thee ; but 
thou shall be carried as one whom the caliph 
would honor.” 

“The way is dangerous. Robbers and hos- 
tile tribes are like the sand about Bashra,” 
added Kanana, who had often heard of the 
countries along the eastern borders of Arabia. 

Surprise became astonishment. The caliph 
exclaimed : 

“ Thou ! son of the Terror of the Desert, 
speaking of danger ? ” 

“ My father, I spoke for thy soldiers,” re- 
plied Kanana, quickly. “ Before they reach the 
sands of Bashra they will be with the five who 
started with this letter. Dost thou believe 
that Kanana spoke in fear or cowardice? If 
so, give him the letters, and with thy bless- 
ing and the help of Allah, he will deliver them 
to thy Kahled, though every river run with 


70 


KANANA AND THE CALIPH. 


fire, and the half of Arabia stand to prevent 
him ! ” 

“ Beardless youth ! ” cried the caliph. “ I 
am too old for mockery.” 

“ My father, without a beard I brought that 
letter here, and He who guarded me will guard 
me still.” 

“ Wouldst thou dare to go without an 
escort ? ” 

I would rather have a sword I could not 
lift than have an escort,” replied Kanana. 

“ By the beard of the Prophet, my son, there 
is both foolishness and wisdom in thy words. 
Thou shall take the messages by one route, and 
by another I will send the soldiers with copies. 
It may be that Allah guides thy tongue. When 
wilt thou start ? ” 

“ Now,” replied Kanana. 

“ That was well spoken,” said the caliph. 
“ What camels and servants shall be pro- 
vided ? ” 

« My father,” said Kanana, “ as I came a 



DOST THOU BELIEVE KANANA SPOKE IN FEAUV” 






;T. 

;iVJ ^ 

'I-.. 





c-,.- .-. 


i 


nn 


r. ‘ 


i .• 


>►. 




M” 


’\‘ 


• ». 


'i . 


* # ^ 



A < • 


V. 


•i-- 


r*. 


M 


I I 


* • v 


> « 




f . f 





If . 


.J 


- I 




t 


m* 

p-^l ; ■' * 

^ t 

rf- t ' . 1 


< *■ 1 

V'. ^ 

■J ■ ■ 

w • » 


t* \ 

r- - 





» «U-4 


• ♦'I 


. 3 *■ i 




►JT i 




\ ■ 


^ %. 


- ff' 




•4 _ 






* n 


^ A 


A 


ytf 



i-C‘ ’'if' 


«% •. 




-o. ‘1 - ' 1 














XANANA AND THE CALIPH. 


73 


little way with the caravan which arrived to- 
day, I noted the white camel that took the 
lead. I never saw so great power of speed 
and endurance in a camel of the plain. The 
man who led him knew him well and was 
easily obeyed. I would have the two, none 
other, and the swiftest dromedary in Mecca, 
with grain for fourteen days.” 

The caliph shook his head : “ It will be 
twenty days and more.” 

“ My father, the burden must be light that 
the sand lie loose beneath their feet, and small, 
that it tempt no envious eye.” Then, in the 
direct simplicity resulting from his lonely life, 
Kanana added : “ If it is a three weeks’ journey 
for others, in fourteen days thy messages shall 
be delivered.” 

The caliph summoned an officer, saying: 
“ Go to the caravan at the Moabede Gate. 
Say that Omar requires the white camel and 
the man who leads it; none other. Bid Eb- 
no’l Hassan prepare my black dromedary and 


74 


KANANA A5rD THE CALIPH. 


food for the two for fourteen days. Have 
everything at the gate, ready to start, in half 
an hour.” Then to a slave, he added : “ Give 
to the son of the Terror of the Desert the best 
that the house affords to eat and drink.” 

Without another word the caliph left the 
room to prepare the messages. The slave hur- 
ried to produce a sumptuous feast. The officer 
left the house to execute the orders of the man 
whose word was law. 

Alone, Kanana sat down again upon the mat 
and buried his face in his hands, as though he 
were quietly preparing himself to sleep. 

Only a whisper escaped his lips. The words 
were the same which he had angrily spoken 
under the shadow of Mount Hor, but the voice 
was very different : “ This is my great reward 
for giving a cup of water to the thirsty. La 
Illaha il Allah ! ” The slave placed the food 
beside him, but he did not notice it. Not 
until the caliph entered again did he suddenly 
look up, exclaiming : “ This shepherd’s coat 


KANANA AND THE CALIPH. 


75 


would not be fitting the dignity of the white 
camel. I must have an ahhe to cover it, and a 
mantle to cover my face, that Mecca may not 
see a beardless youth going upon a mission for 
the great caliph.” 

They were quickly provided. The camel 
and its driver were at the gate, with the black 
dromedary. All was ready, and with the 
mantle drawn over his beardless face, and the 
ahhe covering his sheep-skin coat, Kanana 
knelt and received the blessing of the Caliph 
Omar. 

As he rose from his knees, the caliph handed 
him, first the letters, which Kanana placed in 
his bosom, and next a bag of gold which Kanana 
held in his hand for an instant; then, scornfully, 
he threw it upon the mat, remarking: “My 
father, I have already received a richer reward 
than all the gold of Mecca.” 

The caliph only smiled : “ Let each one 
dance according to the music which he hears. 
My son, I see the future opening before thee. 


76 


KANANA AND THE CALIPH. 


This is not thy last mission. I read it in thy 
destiny that thou wilt succeed, and succeed 
again, until the name of Kanana be written 
among the greatest of those who have lifted 
the lance for Allah and Arabia. Go now, and 
God go with thee.” 


VII. 


A PRIZE WORTH WINNING. 

HERE was a group of several people stand- 



ing about the caliph’s gate as Kanana 
emerged. They were apparently waiting, in 
careless curiosity, to see the white camel start, 
and learn what they could of what was going 
on in official departments. 

The information they received was very 
meager, yet it proved sufficient for more than 
one. They saw the white camel rise, with the 
veiled messenger of Omar upon its back. As the 
driver looked up to receive his first command 
their necks were bent in a way that betrayed 
their eagerness to hear. Only one word was 
spoken, however. It was “ Tayf,” the name of 
a city a short distance to the east of Mecca. 


77 


78 


A PRIZE WORTH WINNING. 


The camel driver’s cry sounded again through 
the streets, but the twilight shadows were 
gathering. There were few abroad, and the 
cries were not so loud or so often repeated 
as in the afternoon. When they ceased alto- 
gether, Kanana had turned his back upon Mecca 
forever. j 

The night wind blew cool and refreshing from 
the surrounding hills as the little caravan moved 
out upon the plain, but Kanana was ill at ease. 

It was still as death in the valley. Far as 
the eye could penetrate the darkness they were 
all alone, except for five horsemen who left the 
gate of Mecca not long after the white camel, 
and were now riding slowly toward Tayf, a 
short distance behind it. 

Ever and again Kanana looked back at them. 
The faint shadows, silently moving onward 
through the gloom, were always there ; never 
nearer ; never out of sight. 

Leaning forward, he spoke in a low voice to 
the driver : “You walk as though you were 


A PRIZE WORTH WINNING. 


79 


weary. The dromedary was brought for you. 
Mount it, and follow me.” 

“ Master,” replied the driver, “ the white 
camel is obstinate. He will only move for one 
whom he knows well.” 

“ You speak to the wind,” muttered Kanana. 
“ Do as I bid thee. Hear my words. Yonder 
black dromedary has the fleetest foot in Mecca. 
He is the pride of the Caliph Omar. Mount 
him, and if you can overtake me while I drive 
the white camel, you shall throw the dust of 
the desert in the face of Raschid Airikat, and 
have the white camel for your own.” 

Tlie driver started back, and stood staring 
at the veiled messenger of Omar. The word 
“ Mount ! ” was sternly repeated. Then he 
quickly obeyed, evidently bewildered, but well 
satisfied that he would have an easy task before 
him, from the moment the white camel realized 
that a stranger was in command. 

Kanana spoke, and the camel started. The 
dromedary moved forward close behind it 


80 


A PRIZE WORTH WINNING. 


without a word from the driver. The horse- 
men had approached no nearer while they 
waited, though Kanana had purposely given 
them time enough to pass, had they not halted 
when he halted. They were still five silent 
shadows upon the distant sand. 

“ Faster,” said Kanana, and the long legs of 
the white camel swung out a little farther over 
the sand and moved more rapidly, in response. 

The dromedary immediately quickened its 
pace without urging, and, a moment later, from 
far in the distance, the night wind brought the 
sound of horses’ hoofs through the silent val- 
ley. It was very faint, but distinct enough to 
indicate that the shadows behind them had 
broken into a canter. 

The camel driver gave little heed to his sur- 
roundings. He was too thoroughly engrossed 
in the prospect of owning the white camel to 
care who might be coming or going in a way 
as safe as that from Tayf to Mecca. 

Kanana, however, who could walk through 


A PRIZE WORTH WINNING. 


81 


the streets of the holy city without so much 
as knowing what the houses were made of, 
would have heard the wings of a night moth 
passing him, or seen a sand bush move, a quarter 
of a mile away. 

His life as a shepherd had, after all, not 
been wasted. 

“ Faster,” said Kanana, touching the camel’s 
neck with his shepherd staff, and without even 
the usual grunt of objection, the animal obeyed. 
The sand began to fly from his great feet as 
they rested upon it for an instant, then left it 
far behind ; the Bedouin boy sat with eyes fixed 
on the path before him, and his head bent so 
that he could catch the faintest sounds coming 
from behind. The mantle that had covered his 
face fell loosely over his shoulder. 

The dromedary lost a little ground for a 
moment, but gathering himself together, easily 
made it up. The driver was too sure of the 
final result to urge him unduly at the start. 
Soon enough the white camel would rebel of 


82 


A PRIZE WORTH WINNING. 


his own accord, and till then it was quite 
enough to keep pace with him. 

The sound of horses’ hoofs became sharper 
and more distinct, and Omar’s messenger knew 
that the five shadows were being pressed to 
greater speed, and were drawing nearer. 

“ Faster ! ” said Kanana, and the white camel 
broke into a run, swinging in rapid motions 
from side to side, as two feet upon one side, 
then two on the other were thrown far in front 
of him and, in an instant, left as far behind. 

Still the dromedary made light work of 
keeping close upon his track, evidently realiz- 
ing what was expected of him ; but the driver 
saw with dismay how quickly the camel re- 
sponded to the word of his rider, how easily 
the man sat upon the swaying back — how care- 
fully he selected the best path for the animal, 
and how skillfully he guided him so that he could 
make the best speed with the least exertion. 

Many a night Kanana had run unsaddled 
camels about the pastures of the Beni Sads, 


A PRIZE WORTH WINNING. 


83 


guarding the sleeping sheep and goats, little 
dreaming for what he was being educated. 

The sound of horses’ hoofs grew fainter. 
They were losing ground, but now and then the 
listening ear caught the sharp cry of an Arab 
horseman urging his animal to greater speed. 

“ They are in earnest,” muttered the Bedouin 
boy, “ but they will not win the race.” 

“ Faster i ” said Kanana ; the camel’s head 
dropped till his neck lost its graceful curve, 
and the great white ship of the desert seemed 
almost flying over the billowy sand. 

For a moment the dromedary dropped be- 
hind. The driver had to use the prod and 
force him to the very best that was in him, 
before he was able to regain the lost ground. 

The sound of hoofs could no longer be 
heard, and Kanana was obliged to listen with 
the utmost care to catch the faintest echo of a 
distant voice. 

“ They are doing their best and are beaten, 
but we can do still better,” he said to himself 


84 


A PRIZE WORTH WINNING. 


with a deep sigh of relief, as he watched the 
desert shrubs fly past them in fleeting shadows, 
scudding over the silver-gray sand. 

The music of the sand, as it flew from the 
camel’s feet and fell like hail upon the dry 
leaves of the desert shrubs, was a delightful 
melody, and hour after hour they held the 
rapid pace ; over low hills and sandy plains ; 
past the mud village and the well that marks 
the resting-place for caravans, a night’s journey 
from Mecca, without a sign of halting; and 
on and on, the dromedary always just so far 
behind, always doing his best to come nearer. 

If by urging he was brought a little closer 
to the camel, the driver heard that low word 
“ Faster ! ” and in spite of him the camel 
gained again. Would he never stop? 

The sounds from behind had long been lost 
when, far in advance, appeared the regular 
caravan from Tayf. They approached it like 
the wind. Only the mystic salaam of the desert 
was solemnly exchanged, then, in a moment, 


A PRIZE WORTH WINNING. 


85 


the trailing train as it crept westward was left, 
disappearing in the darkness behind them. 

When it was out of sight the white camel 
suddenly changed its course, turning sharply 
to the north of east and striking directly over 
the desert, away from the hills and the beaten 
track to Tayf which he had been following. 

The driver could not imagine that such a 
man as sat upon the white camel had lost his 
way. He silently followed till they passed a 
well that marked the second night’s journey 
from Mecca toward Persia. 

The driver and dromedary would very wil- 
lingly have stopped here ; but the camel glided 
onward before them through the changing 
shadows of the night, as though it were some 
phantom, and not a thing of flesh and blood. 

By dint of urging, the driver brought the 
dromedary near enough to call : 

“Master, we are not upon the road to Tayf.” 

« No,” said Kanana, but the camel still held 
his course. 


86 


A PRIZE WORTH WINNING. 


Driven to desperation, as the eastern sky 
was brightening, the driver called again : 

“ Master, you will kill the camel ! ” 

“ Not in one night,” said Kanana ; “ but if 
you value your own life, come on ! ” 

Faster still and faster the white camel swept 
toward the glowing east, but the dromedaiy 
had done his best. He could not do better. 

More and more he fell behind, and in spite 
of every effort of the driver, the pride of the 
caliph was beaten. 

Fainter and fainter grew the outline of the 
white camel against the morning sky, ever 
swinging, swinging, swinging, over the silver- 
gray sea, with a motion as regular and firm as 
though it had started but an hour before. 

As the red disc of the fiery sun rose out of 
the desert, however, the driver saw the camel 
pause, turn half about, till his huge outline 
stood out in bold relief against the sky, and 
then lie down. 

Quickly Kanana dismounted. He caressed 


A PRIZE WORTH WINNING. 


87 


the camel for a moment, whispering, “We are 
two days and a half from Mecca! Thou hast 
done better than I hoped. Thou didst re- 
member me yesterday in the temple court. 
To-night thou hast cheerfully given every atom 
of thy strength to help me. To-morrow we 
shall be far apart. Allah alone knows for 
what or for how long; but if we ever meet 
again thou wilt remember me. Yes, thou 
wilt greet thy Kanana.” 

The boy’s dark eyes were bright with tears 
as he gave the camel the best of the food pro- 
vided for him; then, with sand instead of 
water performing the morning ablution, he 
faced toward Mecca. 

When the dromedary and his rider reached 
the spot, the veiled messenger of Omar was 
solemnly repeating his morning prayer. 


VIII. 


TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 

LL in vain the camel driver sought to 



^ obtain one glimpse beneath the mantle, 
to see the face of the caliph’s messenger, or to 
learn anything of their destination. 

He prepared their very frugal breakfast 
without a fire, and, when it was eaten, in the 
humble, reproachful tone of one who felt him- 
self unjustly suspected, he said : 

“My master, why didst thou deceive me, 
saying we should go to Tayf? Didst thou 
think that I would not willingly and freely 
lead the white camel anywhere, to serve the 
great caliph ? ” 

“ There were other ears than yours to hear,” 
replied Kanana. 


88 


TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 


89 


“ There were only beggars at the gate, my 
master. Dost thou believe I would be treach- 
erous to a servant of Omar and the Prophet ? ” 
“ I believe that every child of Ishmael will 
serve himself,” replied Kanana; “but that had 
nothing to do with what I said. Before we 
start to-night, I will lay out your path before 
you, to the very end. As for the beggars, 
where were your senses ? For three days, in 
disguise, I journeyed with the caravan of Ras- 
chid Airikat, as it came to Mecca. I saw in 
him a treacherous man, and when he yielded 
to a command he must obey and gave me the 
white camel and his driver, I knew that he 
would take them back again by stealth and 
treachery, if he were able to. Have I no eyes, 
that I should spend three days with the cara- 
van and then not recognize the servants of 
Airikat, though they were dressed as beggars 
and slunk away with covered faces, into the 
shadows of the caliph’s gate? They did not 
cover their feet, and by their feet I knew them, 


90 


TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 


even when they deceived you, one of their own. 
To them I said, ‘ Go, tell your master that his 
white camel is on the way to Tayf.’ ” 

“ My master,” said the driver, respectfully, 
“ the sheik Airikat is as devout as he is 
treacherous and brave. He gave the sacred 
camel and thy servant willingly, at the command 
of Omar, for the service of Allah and Arabia. 
I do not think he would deal treacherously.” 

Kanana did not reply, for far away over the 
desert, to the east, there was a little speck of 
dark, like a faint shadow, upon the sand. He 
sat in silence watching it through the folds of 
his mantle, as it grew larger and larger, and a 
long caravan approached. 

The camels were worn out from a long 
journey. Their heads hung down, and their 
feet dragged languidly over the sand. Their 
slow progress had belated them, and the sun 
would be several hours above the desert when 
they reached the oasis by the well, which the 
two had passed before daylight. 


TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 


91 


As they drew nearer it could easily be seen 
that the camels bore no burdens but necessary 
food, in sacks that were nearly empty, and 
that their riders were savage men from the 
eastern borders of Arabia. 

“ Master, do they see us ? ” muttered the 
driver. 

“They have eyes,” replied Kanana. And 
they had. A fresh dromedary and a white 
camel alone upon the desert, were a tempting 
prize. 

They evidently determined to appropriate 
them ; for, leaving the main body of the cara- 
van standing in the path, twenty or more 
turned suddenly, and came directly toward 
them. 

“ Master, we must fly from them,” whispered 
the driver. 

“ If they were behind us I would fly,” replied 
Kanana, “ for every step would be well taken ; 
but my path lies yonder.” He pointed directly 
toward the caravan. “ And I would not turn 


92 


TO SEEK THE BEKI SADS, 


from it though devils instead of men were in 
the way.” 

“It is the will of Allah. We are lost,” mut- 
tered the camel driver, and his arms dropped 
sullenly upon his knees, in the dogged resigna- 
tion to fate so characteristic of the Bedouin. 

Kanana made no reply, but, repeating from 
the Koran, “ ‘ Whatever of good betideth thee 
cometh from Him,’ ” he rose and walked slowly 
to where the white camel was lying. 

Upon the high saddle, which had not yet 
been removed, hung the inevitable lance and 
sword, placed there by the officer of the caliph. 

Leaning back against the saddle to await the 
approach of the caravan, the Bedouin boy 
threw his right hand carelessly across the hilt 
of the Damascus blade, exposing, almost to the 
shoulder, the rounded muscles of the powerful 
arm of — a shepherd lad. 

The caravan drew nearer and finally halted 
when the leader was less than ten paces from 
the white camel. 


TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 


93 


His envious eyes had been gloating over the 
tempting prize as he approached ; but gradually 
they became fastened upon that hand and arm, 
while the fingers that were playing gently 
upon the polished hilt, seemed to beckon him 
on to test the gleaming blade beneath. 

He could not see the beardless face, pro- 
tected by the mantle. How could he know 
that that hand had never drawn a sword ? 

The whole appearance indicated a man 
without one thought of fear, and the savage 
chief realized that, before the white camel 
became his prize, some one beside its present 
owner would doubtless pay a dear price for it. 

He was still determined to possess it, but 
the silent figure demanded and received re- 
spect from him. 

Instead of the defiant words which were 
upon his tongue, he pronounced the desert 
greeting. 

Kanana returned the salutation, and immedi- 
ately asked: “Did the dust from Kahled’s 


94 


TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 


host blow over you when your foot was on the 
sand of Bashra ? ” 

The sheik drew back a little. It was a 
slight but very suggestive motion, speaking 
volumes to the keen eye of the Bedouin boy. 
He had been leaning forward before, more than 
is natural even to one tired out with sitting 
upon a camel’s back. It was as if in his eager- 
ness he was reaching forward to grasp the 
prize. Now he seemed suddenly to have lost 
that eagerness. 

Quickly, Kanana took advantage of the hint. 
He drew from his bosom the letter of the 
caliph, sealed with the great seal of Mo- 
hammed, which every Mussulman could recog- 
nize, and calmly holding it plainly in view, he 
continued : 

“ The beak of the vulture has whitened, 
instead of the bones he would have plucked. 
The tooth of the jackal is broken, and not the 
flesh he would have torn. Raschid Airikat is 
neither at Damascus nor Mecca. To-morrow 



1 

M- ! 

k nSt. I P 


ill! 


1 K. 1 ( V 




A 


SILENT FIGUKE DEMANDED AND RECEIVED RESPECT 




TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 


97 


morning he will be at Tayf. He would have 
you meet him there. Say to him : ‘ The fool 
hath eaten his own folly. The veiled messen- 
ger of the Prophet, sitting upon the sacred 
camel, glides with the night wind into the 
rising sun ; for the fire is lighted in Hejaz that 
at Bashra shall cause the camels’ necks to 
shine.’ ” 

A decided change came over the savage face 
of the Arab sheik. He sat in silence for a 
moment, then, without a word, drove the prod 
into his camel. 

There was a grunt and a gurgling wail, and 
the tired animal was moving on, followed by 
all the rest. 

Kanana and his camel driver were left alone. 
When they were well out of hearing the driver 
prostrated himself before Kanana, touching his 
forehead to the ground, and asked : 

“ Master, who was that sheik, with all his 
warriors, and who art thou that they should 
cower before thy word ? ” 


98 


TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 


“I am no one to receive your homage. 
Stand upon your feet ! ” almost shouted 
Kanana. “ I never saw nor heard of them 
until to-day.” 

He breathed a deep, quivering sigh, and 
leaned heavily upon the saddle ; for every 
muscle in his body shook and trembled as the 
result of what had seemed so calm and defiant. 
He tried to replace the letter in his bosom, but 
his hand trembled so that he was obliged to wait. 

“ Thou knewest that he was of the tribe of 
Raschid Airikat, and that he came from 
Bashra,” said the driver. 

“ I knew nothing,” replied Kanana, petu- 
lantly, in the intense reaction. “How long 
have you been a man, well taught in killing 
other men, not to see what any cowardly 
shepherd boy could read? Were not their 
lances made of the same peculiar wood ; and 
their camel saddles, were they not the same, 
stained with the deep dye of Bashra? Who 
should come out of the rising sun, with his 


TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 


99 


camel licking the desert sand, if he came not 
from Bashra? Who should be going toward 
Mecca at this season, without a burdened camel 
in his caravan, if he went not to meet his chief 
for war? Why did Airikat crowd his cara- 
van, day and night, if he expected no one ? ” 

“ But, master, Airikat is at Mecca, not at 
Tayf,” said the camel driver. 

“ Bedouin, where are your eyes and ears ? ” 
exclaimed Kanana, scornfully. “ Your paltry 
beggars at the caliph’s gate carried my message 
swiftly. We had not left the gate of Mecca 
out of sight when on the road behind us came 
Airikat and four followers. While you were 
struggling to reach the white camel, they did 
their best to overtake us both, but we out- 
stripped them. We kept upon the way till we 
had passed the nightly caravan. They would 
have to rest their horses at the well, and the 
caravan would halt there, too. They would 
inquire for us, and the caravan would answer, 
‘ We passed the white camel running like the 


100 


TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 


wind toward Tayf.’ Enough. Airikat with 
his horsemen cannot reach there before the 
next sunrise, and when he learns the truth he 
will he five days behind us. From him and 
yonder caravan by the help of Allah we are 
safe. If you would learn a lesson, by the way, 
let it be this : that man can conquer man 
without a sword or lance. Sleep on it.” 

Setting the example, Kanana removed the 
camel’s saddle, fastened his hind foot to his 
haunch with the twisted rope so that he could 
not rise, and sank upon the sand beside him, 
laying his head upon the creature’s neck. 

The last words which he heard from his 
driver were : “ Master, thou art mightier than 
Airikat and all his warriors.” 

The sun beat fiercely down all day upon his 
resting-place ; but Kanana’s sleep was sweeter 
than if the cool starlight had been over him, or 
a black tent of the Beni Sads ; because, for 
that one day at least, his head was pillowed 
upon the white camel’s neck. 


TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 


101 


It was late in the afternoon before he woke, 
and the sun was setting when the little caravan 
was again prepared to start. 

They were ready to mount when the driver 
came to the white camel. He laid his hand 
upon the dingy haunch, and said, in a voice that 
was strangely pleading for a fierce Bedouin : 

“ Master, do not crowd him overhard to- 
night. He obeys too willingly. He is tired 
from a long journey. It is four weeks since 
he has rested. I would rather you would kill 
me than the white camel.” 

Kanana thought for a moment, then taking 
his shepherd staff from the saddle, he replied : 

“You can tell better than I how he should 
be driven. Mount him, and I will ride the 
dromedary.” 

To the driver this was only Arab sarcasm, 
and he hesitated till Kanana silently pointed 
his staff toward the saddle, and the driver was 
more afraid to refuse than to obey. 

Kanana turned and mounted the dromedary. 


102 


TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 


As the camel rose to his feet, a strange 
temptation sent the blood tingling to the 
driver’s finger-tips. 

The di'omedary .was unarmed. The messen- 
ger of Omar held only a shepherd’s staff. 
Almost unconsciously his hand clutched the hilt 
of the Damascus blade, betraying the fact that it 
was better used to holding such a thing than the 
rope that led the white camel through Mecca. 

Quickly the driver looked back, to see 
Kan ana quietly watching him. Instantly his 
hand dropped the hilt, but it was too late. 
Scornfully Kanana said : 

“ Lo ! every child of Ishmael, from the devout 
Raschid to the faithful camel driver, will serve 
himself. Kay, keep the hand upon the sword. 
Perchance there will be better cause to use it 
than in defying me. From here our paths 
must separate. I promised that to-night I 
would lay out your course for you. It is north- 
ward, wdthout swerving, for ten nights, at least.” 

“ And whither goest thou, my master ? ” 


TO SEEK THE BENI SADS. 


103 


“ That only Allah can direct, from day to 
day. La Illaha il Allah ! ” 

“ And what is my mission to he ? ” asked the 
driver, anxiously. 

“ It is to seek the Beni Sads ; to find the aged 
chief, the Terror of the Desert ; to say to him : 
Kanana hath fulfilled his vow. He hath not 
lifted the lance against Airikat ; but thy white 
camel is returned to thee, bearing thy first-horn 
upon his hack. Go, and God go with thee ! ” 

“ Who art thou ? ” cried the man upon the 
white camel, starting from his seat as the 
dromedary gave the usual grunt, in answer to 
the prod, and moved away. 

The Bedouin hoy turned in the saddle, tore 
off the ahhe and the mantle that covered him, 
and clad in the sheepskin coat and desert turban 
answered : 

“ I am thy brother Kanana, the coward of 
the Beni Sads ! ” 


IX. 


FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA. 

^ ^ ANANA ! our Kanana ! ” cried the 
brother, striking the camel’s neck. 

The dingy dignity of the great white camel 
was ruffled by the blow received, and he ex- 
pressed his disapproval in a series of grunts 
before he made any attempt to start. 

“ Kanana ! Kanana ! ” the brother called 
again, seeing the dromedary already merging 
into the shadows; but the only response he re- 
ceived was from the shepherd staff, extended 
at arm’s length pointing northward. 

“ My young brother shall not leave me in 
this way. He has no weapon of defense and 
only a little of the grain.” 

Again he struck the camel a sharp blow as 
104 


FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA. 


105 


the animal began very slowly to move forward. 
The black dromedary was hardly distinguish- 
able from the night, and was rapidly sinking 
into the deepening shadows before the camel 
was fairly on the way. 

“ Go ! ” cried the rider savagely, striking 
him again, and the camel moved a little faster; 
but he made slow and lumbering work, for he 
was not at all pleased with his treatment. 

The rider’s eyes were fixed intently upon the 
dim outline sinking away from him. The last 
he saw of it was the hand and arm, still hold- 
ing the extended shepherd staff, pointing to 
the north. Then all was lost. 

He kept on in that direction for an hour, but 
it was evident that he had begun in the wrong 
way with the camel, and that he was not forc- 
ing him to anything like his speed of the night 
before. 

It was beyond his power to overtake the 
dromedary, and doubly chagrined he gave up 
the race and turned northward. 


106 


FOE ALLAH AND ARABIA. 


The path before Kanana was the highway 
between Persia and Mecca. At some seasons 
it was almost hourly traversed, but at mid- 
summer only absolute necessity drove the 
Arabs across the very heart of the desert. 

In the height of the rainy season there were 
even occasional pools of water in the hollows, 
here and there. Later there was coarse tough 
grass growing, sometimes for miles along the 
way. 

Little by little, however, they disappeared. 
Then the green of each oasis shrank toward the 
center, about the spring or well, and often before 
midsummer was over, they too had dried away. 

The prospect of loneliness, however, was not 
at all disheartening to Kanana. He had no 
desire to meet with any one, least of all with 
such parties as would be apt to cross the desert 
at this season. 

If a moving shadow appeared in the distance, 
he turned well to one side and had the drome- 
dary lie down upon the sand till it passed. 


FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA. 


107 


The black dromedary was fresh, and the 
Bedouin boy knew well how to make the most 
of his strength while it lasted ; but it was for 
Allah and Arabia that they crossed the desert, 
and Kan ana felt that neither his own life nor 
that of the dromedary could be accounted of 
value compared with the demand for haste. 

He paid no heed to the usual camping 
grounds for caravans, except to be sure that 
he passed two of them every night till the 
dromedary’s strength began to fail. 

Each morning the sun was well upon its 
way before he halted for the day, and long be- 
fore it set again he was following his shadow 
upon the sand. 

More and more the dromedary felt the strain. 
When twelve nights had passed, the pride of 
the caliph was anything but a tempting prize, 
and Kanana would hardly have troubled him- 
self to turn out for a caravan even if he had 
thought it a band of robbers. 

The Bedouin boy, too, was thoroughly worn 


108 


FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA. 


and exhausted. For days they had been with- 
out water, checking their thirst by chewing the 
prickly leaves of the little desert vine that is 
the last sign of life upon the drying sand. No 
dew fell at this season, and Kanana realized 
that it was only a matter of hours as to how 
much longer they could hold out. 

Morning came without a sign of water or 
of life, as far as the eye could reach. 

The sun rose higher, and Kanana longed for 
the sight of a human being as intensely as at 
first he had dreaded it. 

Nothing but the ghastly bones of men and 
animals bleaching among the sand shrubs, 
showed him that he was still upon the highway 
to Bashra. 

Out of the glaring silver-gray, the fiery sun 
sailed into the lusterless blue of the dry, hot 
sky, leaving the two separated by the eternal 
belt of leaden clouds that never rise above a 
desert-horizon and never disperse in rain. 

Kanana halted only for his morning prayer. 


FOE ALLAH AND AEABIA. 


109 


and, when it was finished, the petition that he 
added for himself was simply “ Water ! water ! 
O, Allah ! give us water.” 

Each day the heat had become more intense, 
and to-day it seemed almost to burn the very 
sand. As Kanana mounted again and started 
on, his tired eyes sought anxiously the glaring 
billows for some sign of life ; but not a living 
thing, no shadow even, broke the fearful 
monotony. 

There were gorgeous promises, but they did 
not deceive the eyes that had looked so often 
along the sand. There were great cities rising 
upon the distant horizon, with stately domes 
and graceful minarets such as were never 
known throughout the length and breadth of 
Arabia. And when the bells ceased tolling in 
Kanana’s ears, he could hear the muezzin’s call 
to prayer. Then the bells would toll again 
and he would mutter, “Water! water! O, 
Allah ! give us water.” 

He had no longer any heart to urge the tired 


110 


FOE ALLAH AND AEABIA. 


dromedary to a faster pace. He knew that it 
would only be to see him fall, the sooner, upon 
the sand. The tired creature’s head hung down 
till his nose almost touched the earth as he 
plodded slowly onward. 

The sun rose higher. It was past the hour 
when they always stopped, but neither thought 
of stopping. Waiting would not bring the 
water to them, and the Bedouin boy knew well 
that to he on the desert sand that day, meant 
to lie there forever. 

The dromedary knew it as well as his mas- 
ter, and without a word to urge him, he kept 
his feet slowly moving onward, like an automa- 
ton, with his nose thrust forward just above 
the sand, as though he too were pleading : 
“Water! water! O, Allah! give us water.” 

His eyes were closed. His feet dragged 
along the sand. Kanana did not attempt to 
guide him, though he swayed from side to side, 
sometimes reeling and almost falling over low 
hillocks which he made no effort to avoid. 


FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA. 


Ill 


Kanana could scarcely keep his own eyes 
open. The glare of the desert was blinding; 
but their last hope lay in his watchfulness. 

He struggled hard to keep back the treacher- 
ous drowsiness, but his head would drop upon 
one shoulder, then upon the other. He could 
have fallen from the saddle and stretched him- 
self upon the sand to die without a struggle, 
had it not been for the caliph’s letter in his 
bosom. Again and again he pressed his hand 
upon it to rouse himself, and muttered : “ By 
the help of Allah, I will deliver it.” 

Each time that this roused him he shaded 
his eyes and sought again the sand before him ; 
but glaring and gray it stretched away to the 
horizon, without one shadow save that of the 
forest of low and brittle sand shrubs. 

The burning sky grew black above him, and 
the desert became a fiery red. The dromedary 
did not seem like a living thing. He thought 
he was sitting upon his perch in the harvest 
field. The sun seemed cold, as its rays beat 


112 


FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA. 


upon his head. He shivered and unconsciously 
drew the wings of his turban over his face. 
No wonder it was cold. It was the early 
morning under Mount Hor. Yes, there were 
all the blue forget-me-nots. How the stream 
rippled and gurgled among them ! 

He started. What was that shock that 
roused him ? Was it the robbers coming down 
upon him ? He shook himself fiercely. W as 
he sleeping? He struggled to spring to his 
feet, but they were tangled in something. 

At last his blood- shot eyes slowly opened and 
consciousness returned. The dromedary had 
fallen to the ground, beside — an empty well. 

Kanana struggled to his feet and looked 
down among the rocks. The bottom was as 
dry as the sand upon which he was standing. 

He looked back at the dromedary. Its eyes 
were shut. Its neck was stretched straight out 
before it on the sand, its head rested upon the 
rocks of the well. 

“ Thou hast given thy life for Allah and 


FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA. 


113 


Arabia,” Kan ana said, “ and when the Prophet 
returns in his glory, he will remember thee.” 

He took the sack of camel’s food from 
the saddle and emptied the whole of it whei*e 
the dromedary could reach it. Then he cut the 
saddle-straps and dragged the saddle to one 
side. It was all that he could do for the dumb 
beast that had served him. 

Suddenly he noticed that the sun was set- 
ting. All the long day he must have slept, 
while the poor dromedary had crept onward 
toward the well. It had not been a healthful 
sleep, but it refreshed him, and combined with 
the excitement of waking and working for the 
dromedary, he found his tongue less parched 
than before. Quickly he took a handful of 
wheat and began to chew it vigorously ; a secret 
which has saved the life of many a Bedouin 
upon the great sea of sand. 

For a moment he leaned upon the empty 
saddle chewing the wheat, watching the sun 
sink into the sand and thinking. ^ 


114 


FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA. 


“ Thirteen days ! ” he muttered. “ I said 
fourteen when I started, but we have done 
better than three days in two. If we did not 
turn from the way to-day, this well is but one 
night from Bashra. O, Allah ! Mahamoud 
rousol il Allah ! give thy servant life for this 
one night ! ” 

The dromedary had not moved to touch the 
food beside him, and there was no hope of 
further help from the faithful animal. Kan an a 
stood beside it for a moment, laid his hand 
gratefully upon the motionless head, then took 
up his shepherd staff and started on. 

Sometimes waking, sometimes sleeping as he 
walked, sometimes thinking himself far away 
from the sands of Bashra, sometimes urging 
himself on with a realization that he must be 
near his journey’s end, he pressed steadily on 
and on, hour after hour. 

Sometimes he felt fresh enough to start and 
run. Sometimes he wondered if he had the 
strength to lift his foot and put it forward 


FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA. 


115 


another time. Sometimes he felt sure that he 
was moving faster than a caravan, and that he 
should reach Bashra before morning. Some- 
times it seemed as though the willing spirit 
must leave the lagging flesh behind as he had 
left the dromedary, and go on alone to Bashra. 

Then he would press the sacred letter hard 
against his bosom and repeat, “ By the help of 
Allah I will deliver it ! ” And all the time, 
though he did not realize it, he was moving 
forward with swift and steady strides, almost 
as though he were inspired with superhuman 
strength. 

Far away to the east a little spark of light 
appeared. It grew and rose, till above the 
clouds there hung a thin white crescent ; the 
narrowest line of moonlight. 

Kan ana gave a cry of joy, for it was an 
omen which no Arab could fail to understand, 

Then the air grew cold. The darkest houi 
before the dawn approached, and the narro\v 
moon served only to make the earth invisible. 


116 


FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA. 


The dread of meeting any one had long ago 
left Kanana’s mind. First he had feared it. 
Then he had longed for it. 'Now he was totally 
indifferent. He looked at the sky above him to 
keep his course. He looked at the sand be- 
neath his feet ; but he did not once search the 
desert before him. 

Suddenly he was roused from his lethargy. 
There were shadows just ahead. He paused, 
shaded his eyes from the sky and looked for- 
ward, long and earnestly. 

“ It is not sand shrubs,” he muttered. “ It 
is too high. It is not Bashra. It is too low. 
It is not a caravan. It does not move. It has 
no beginning and no end,” he added, as he 
looked to right and left. 

“ It is tents,” he said a moment later, and a 
frown of anxiety gathered over his forehead. 
“Have I missed the way? No tribe so large 
as that would be tented near Bashra. If I turn 
back I shall die. If I go on — La Illaha il 
Allah ! ” he murmured, and resolutely advanced. 


FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA. 


117 


As he drew nearer, the indistinguishable 
noises of the night in a vast encampment be- 
came plainly audible, but he did not hesitate. 

Following the Arab custom for every stranger 
in approaching a Bedouin camp, he paused at 
the first tent he reached, and standing before 
the open front repeated the Mussulman 
salutation. 

Some one within roused quickly, and out of 
the darkness a deep voice sounded in reply. 

Then Kan an a repeated : 

“ I am a wanderer upon the desert, far from 
my people.” And the voice replied : 

“ If you can lift the lance for Allah and 
Arabia, you are welcome in the camp of Kahled 
the Invincible.” 

“ La Illaha il Allah ! ” cried Kanana. “ Guide 
me quickly to the tent of Kahled. I am a 
messenger to him from the great Caliph Om.ar.” 

The earth reeled beneath the feet of Kanana 
as the soldier led the way. 

The general was roused without the formality 


118 


FOR ALLAH AND ARABIA. 


of modern military tactics or even Mohamme- 
dan courtesies. A torch was quickly lighted. 
Kanana prostrated himself ; then rising, he 
handed the precious packet to the greatest 
general who ever led the hosts of Mohammed. 

Rallied the Invincible broke the seal, but 
before he had read a single word, the Bedouin 
boy fell unconscious upon the carpet of the 
tent. 

As the soldiers lifted him, Kanana roused 
for an instant and murmured : 

“By the dry well, one night to the south- 
west, my black dromedary is dying of thirst. 
In Allah’s name, send him water ! He brought 
the message from Mecca in thirteen days ! ” 
Then the torchlight faded before his eyes, and 
Kanana’s lips were sealed in unconsciousness. 


X. 


KANANA’s third MISSTOIf. 

VAST Mohammedan army, with its al- 



most innumerable followers, was march- 
ing towards Syria, to meet the hosts of the 
Emperor Heraclius. 

Like a pillar of cloud the dust rose above 
the mighty throng. 

Armed horsemen, ten thousand strong, rode 
in advance. 

A veteran guard of scarred and savage men 
came next, mounted upon huge camels, sur- 
rounding Kahled the Invincible and his chief 
officers, who rode upon the strongest and most 
beautiful of Persian horse. 


A little distance behind were thousands of 

fierce warriors mounted on camels and drome- 
119 


120 


kanana’s third mission. 


daries. Then came another vast detachment 
of camels bearing the tents, furniture, and pro- 
visions of the army ; these were followed by a 
motley throng, comprising the families of many 
of the tribes represented in the front, while 
still another powerful guard brought up the rear. 

Behind the bodyguard of Kahled and before 
the war camels rode a smaller guard, in the 
center of which were two camels, bearing a 
litter between them. 

Upon this litter lay Kanana, shielded from 
the sun by a goat’s-hair awning ; for almost 
of necessity the army moved by daylight. It 
started an hour after sunrise, resting two hours 
at noon, and halting an hour before sunset. It 
moved more rapidly than a caravan, however, 
and averaged twenty-five miles a day. 

Close behind Kanana’s litter walked a rider- 
less dromedary. At the start it was haggard 
and worn. Its dark hair was burned to a dingy 
brown by the fierce heat of the desert ; but 
even Kahled received less careful attention, and 


kanana’s third mission. 


121 


every day it gathered strength and held its 
head a little higher. 

The black dromedary was not allowed to carry 
any burden, but was literally covered with gay- 
colored cloths ; decorating the pride of Omar 
the Great, that had brought the good news from 
Mecca to Bashra in less than thirteen days. 

Nothing pleasanter could have been an- 
nounced to that terrible army of veterans sur- 
rounding the valiant Kahled, than that it was 
to face the mightiest host which the Emperor 
Heraclius could gather in all the north. 

There was not one in all that throng who 
doubted, for an instant, that Kahled could 
conquer the whole world if he chose, in the 
name of Allah and the Prophet. 

Many of the soldiers had followed him since 
the day, years before, when he made his first 
grand plunge into Persia. They had seen him 
made the supreme dictator of Babylonia. They 
had seen him send that remarkable message 
to the great monarch of Persia : 


122 


kanana’s third mission^. 


“Profess the faith of Allah and his Prophet, 
or pay tribute to their servants. If you refuse 
I will come upon you with a host that loves 
death as much as you love life.” 

Once before had they seen him summoned 
from his triumphs in Persia, because all of 
the Mohammedan generals and soldiers in 
Syria were not able to cope with the power 
of Heraclius. They had seen him given the 
supreme power by the Caliph Abu Beker, 
Omar’s predecessor, and “watched while, single- 
handed, he fought and conquered the great 
warrior Romanus. 

Most of them had been with him before the 
walls of Damascus, when he besieged that 
magnificently fortified city upon one side, and 
fought and conquered an army of a hundred 
thousand men upon the other side, sent from 
Antioch, by Heraclius, for the relief of the 
great city. Then they witnessed the fall of 
Damascus, and followed Kahled as he attacked 
and put to flight an army outnumbering his by 


kanana’s third mission. 


123 


two to one, and equipped and drilled in the 
most modern methods of Roman warfare. 

They had fought with him in the fiercest 
battles ever recorded of those desert lands, and 
they only knew him as Kahled the Invincible. 

When Abu Beker died and Omar the Great 
took his place, the proud soldiers saw their 
general unjustly deposed and given such minor 
work as tenting about the besieged cities, while 
others did the fighting, until he left Syria in 
disgust. 

No wonder they were glad to see him re- 
called to take his proper place. They jested 
without end about the cowards who were 
frightened because Heraclius had threatened to 
annihilate the Mussulmans. And the march 
was one grand holiday, in spite of heat and 
hardships. 

As Kanana lay in his litter and listened to 
these bursts of eloquence in praise of the gen- 
eral, he was often stirred with ardent patriot- 
ism and almost persuaded to cast his lot among 


124 


kanana’s third mission. 


the soldiers ; but the same odd theories which 
before had prevented his taking up a lance, 
restrained him still. 

On the fourth day he left the litter and took 
his seat upon the black dromedary. Kahled 
directed that costly garments and a sword and 
lance be furnished him, but Kanana prostrated 
himself before the general and pleaded : “ My 
father, I never held a lance, and Allah knows 
me best in this sheepskin coat.” 

Kahled frowned, but Kanana sat upon the 
decorated dromedary precisely as he left the 
perch in the harvest-field. He expected to 
take his place with the camp-followers in the 
rear, but found that he was still to ride in state 
surrounded by the veteran guard. Indeed, he 
became a figure so celebrated and conspicuous 
that many a warrior in passing, after prostrat- 
ing himself before the general, touched his 
forehead to the ground before Kanana and the 
black dromedary. 

It might have made a pleasant dream, while 


kanana’s third mission. 


125 


sitting upon the perch in the harvest-field, but 
the reality disturbed him, and again he began 
to plan some means of escape. 

He carefully computed the position of the 
Beni Sad encampment, and determined the day 
when the army would pass but a few miles to 
the east of it. 

One who has not lived upon the desert, and 
seen it illustrated again and again, can scarcely 
credit the accuracy with which a wandering 
Bedouin can locate the direction and distance 
to any point with which he is familiar ; but 
even then Kanana was at a loss as to how to 
accomplish his purpose when the whole matter 
was arranged for him, and he was supplied 
with a work which he could perform for Allah 
and Arabia, still holding his shepherd staff and 
wearing his sheepskin coat. 

The army halted for the night upon the eve 
of the day when it would pass near the encamp- 
ment of the Beni Sads. The tent which Kanana 
occupied was pitched next that of Kahled. 


126 


kanana’s third mission. 


Re sat upon the ground eating his supper. 
All about him was the clatter and commotion 
of the mighty host preparing for the night, 
when he heard an officer reporting to the 
general that in three days the supply of grain 
would be exhausted. 

“ My father,” he exclaimed, prostrating him- 
self before the general, “ thy servant’s people, 
the Beni Sads, must be less than a night’s jour- 
ney to the north and west. They were har- 
vesting six weeks ago, and must have five 
hundred camel loads of grain to sell. Bid me 
go to them to-night, and, with the help of 
Allah, by the sunrise after to-morrow it shall 
be delivered to thy hand.” 

Kahled had formed a very good opinion of 
the Bedouin boy. He had noticed his uneasi- 
ness, and, suspecting that he would make an 
endeavor to escape, he had been searching for 
some occupation that should prevent it by ren- 
dering him more content to remain. He felt 
that a time might come when Kanana, with his 



K^’EELI^G HE UKCEIVED THE ELESSl^G 









kanana’s third mission. 


129 


sheepskin coat and shepherd staff, might he of 
greater value to him than many a veteran with 
costly ahhe and gleaming sword. 

The result was an order that, one hour after 
sunset, Kanana should start, at the head of a 
hundred horsemen, with ten camels ladened 
with treasure for the purchase of grain, with 
twenty camels bearing grain sacks, and one 
with gifts from Kahled to The Terror of the 
Desert, in acknowledgment of the service ren- 
dered by his son. 

When he had purchased what grain the 
Beni Sads would sell, he was to continue in 
advance of the army, securing supplies to the 
very border of Syria. 

Kanana was no prodigy of meekness that he 
should not appreciate this distinction. A 
prouder boy has never lived, in Occident or 
Orient, than the Bedouin shepherd who sat 
upon the black dromedary and publicly received 
the general’s blessing and command of the 


caravan. 


130 


kanana’s third mission. 


In any other land there might have been 
rebellion among a hundred veteran horsemen, 
when placed under command of a boy in a 
sheepskin coat, armed only with a shepherd 
staff, but there was not a man of them who 
had not heard wonderful tales of Kan ana’s 
courage; and the shepherd who had left the 
harvest field six weeks before, known only as 
the coward of the Beni Sads, set his face 
toward home that night, followed by a hun- 
dred savage warriors who obeyed him as one 
of the bravest of all the Bedouins. 

As the caravan moved rapidly over the 
plain, bearing its costly burden, it is hardly 
surprising that the beardless chief recalled his 
last interview with his angry father, when that 
veteran sheik refused to trust him with a single 
horse to start upon his mission ; but he was 
none the less anxious to reach his father’s tent 
and receive his father’s blessing. 


XL 


THE SACKED GIRDLE 


HORTLY after midnight five horsemen 



who rode in advance returned to report 
a large encampment, far away upon the left. 
Then Kanana took the lead as a brave Bedouin 
chieftain should, and, followed by the caravan, 
approached the smouldering fires which be- 
trayed the location of the camp. 

He rode directly toward the tent of the 
sheik, which always stands in the outer line, 
farthest from a river or upon the side from 
which the guests of the tribe will be most 
likely to approach. 

As he approached, a shadow rose silently 
out of the shadows. It sniffed the air. Then 
there was a faint grunt of satisfaction and the 
shadow sank down into the shadows again. 


131 


132 


THE SACKED GIRDLE. 


Kanana slipped from the back of the drome- 
dary without waiting for him to lie down, and, 
running forward to the white camel, whispered, 
“ I knew that thou wouldst know me.” 

The Terror of the Desert appeared at the 
tent door with a hand raised in blessing. 

Kanana ran to his father with a cry of joy, 
and the white-haired sheik threw his arms about 
the neck of his son and kissed him, saying: 

“Forgive me, Kanana, my brave Kanana! 
I said that thou hadst come to curse me with 
thy cowardice, and lo ! thou hast done grander, 
braver deeds than I in all my years. Verily, 
thou hast put me to shame, but it is with 
courage, not with cowardice.” 

Kanana tried to speak, but tears choked him. 
All alone he could calmly face a score of sav- 
age robbers, armed to the teeth, but suddenly 
he discovered that he was only a boy, after all. 
He had almost forgotten it. And in helpless 
silence he clung to his father’s neck. 

The old sheik roused himself. 


THE SACRED GIRDLE. 


133 


“ Kanana,” he exclaimed, “why am I silent? 
The whole tribe waits to welcome thee. Ho ! 
every one who sleepeth ! ” he called aloud, 
“ awake ! awake ! Kanana is returned to us ! ” 

Far and near the cry was repeated, and a 
moment later the people came hurrying to 
greet the hero of the Beni Sads. 

Not only had the brother returned with the 
white camel and a glowing account of his 
rescue by the veiled messenger of the caliph, 
but a special officer had come, by a passing 
caravan, bearing to The Terror of the Desert 
a bag of gold and the congratulations of Omar 
the Great, that he was the father of such a son. 

Now the gifts from Kahled the Invincible 
arrived, and the hundred horsemen obeying 
the voice of Kanana. The Beni Sads could 
scarcely believe their eyes and ears. 

Torches were lighted. Fires were rekindled 
and, before sunrise, the grandest of all grand 
Bedouin feasts was in full glory. 

Vainly, however, did the old sheik bring out 


134 


THE SACRED GIRDLE. 


the best robe to put it on him ; with a ring 
for his hand and shoes for his feet; in a cus- 
tom for celebrating a son’s return which was 
old when the story of the Prodigal was told. 

Kanana only shook his head and answered : 
“ My father, Allah knows me best barefooted 
and in this sheepskin coat.” 

The Bedouin seldom tastes of meat except 
upon the occasion of some feast. 

When a common guest arrives, unleavened 
bread is baked and served with ayesh^ a paste 
of sour camel’s milk and flour. But Kanana 
was not a common guest. 

For one of higher rank coffee and melted 
butter is prepared, but these were not enough 
for a welcome to Kanana. 

For one still higher a kid or lamb is boiled 
in camel’s milk and placed in a great wooden 
dish covered with melted fat and surrounded 
by a paste of wheat that has been boiled and 
diied and ground and boiled again with butter. 

Twenty lambs and kids were thus prepared. 


THE SACRED GIRDLE. 


135 


but the people were not satisfied. Nothing 
was left but the greatest and grandest dish 
which a Bedouin tribe can add to a feast in 
an endeavor to do honor to its noblest guest. 
Two she-camels were killed and the meat 
quickly distributed to be boiled and roasted. 
All for the boy who had left them, six weeks 
before, with no word of farewell but the part- 
ing taunt of a ratcatcher. 

While the men were eating the meat and 
drinking camel’s milk and coffee, the women 
sang patriotic songs, often substituting Kanana’s 
name for that of some great hero ; and when 
the men had finished and the women gathered 
in the maharems to feast upon what was left. 
The Terror of the Desert, roused to the highest 
pitch of patriotism, declared his intention to 
join the army of Kahled, and nearly two hun- 
dred of the Beni Sads resolved to follow him. 

It was nearly noon when Kanana and tliose 
who were with him went to sleep in the goat’s- 
hair tents, leaving the whole tribe at work. 


136 


THE SACRED GIRDLE. 


packing the grain sacks, loading the camels, 
and cleaning their weapons for war. 

Kanana performed his mission faithfully, lit- 
tle dreaming that Kahled’s one design in plac- 
ing it in his hands was to keep him with the 
army for services of much greater importance. 

The time which the general anticipated came 
when the hosts of Kahled, joined by the Mo- 
hammedan armies of Syria and Arabia, were 
finally encamped at Yermonk upon the bor- 
ders of Palestine. 

Kanana was summoned to the general’s tent 
and, trembling like the veriest coward in all 
the world, he fell upon his face before the man 
to whom was entrusted the almost hopeless 
task of rescuing Arabia. To Kahled alone all 
eyes were turned and Kanana trembled, not 
because he was frightened, but because he was 
alone in the tent with one who seemed to him 
but little less than God himself. 

Kahled’s words were always few and quickly 
spoken. 


THE SACRED GIRDLE. 


137 


“ Son of The Terror of the Desert,” said he, 
“ many conflicting rumors reach me concerning 
the approaching enemy. I want the truth. I 
want it quickly. What dost thou require to 
aid thee in performing this duty ? ” 

Kanana’s forehead still touched the ground. 
Overwhelmed by this sudden order, an attempt 
to obey which, meant death, without mercy, 
without one chance in a hundred of escape, he 
altogether forgot to rise. 

Kahled sat in silence, understanding human 
nature too well to disturb the boy, and for five 
minutes neither moved. Then Kanana rose 
slowly and his voice trembled a little as he 
replied : “ My father, I would have thy fleetest 
horse, thy blessing and thy girdle.” 

Kahled the Invincible wore a girdle that 
was known to every soldier and camp follower 
of the army. It was of camel’s-skin, soft- 
tanned and colored with a brilliant Persian dye, 
which as far away as it could be seen at all, no 
one could mistake. 


138 


THE SACRED GIRDLE. 


It was part of a magnificent curtain which 
once hung in the royal palace of Babylon. It 
pleased the fancy of the fierce warrior, and he 
wore it as a girdle till it became his only in- 
signia. There was not a color like it within 
hundreds of miles at least, and when the 
people saw it they knew that it was Kahled. 

“ Take what horse thou wilt,” replied the 
general. “I give thee, now, my blessing.” 
Then he hesitated for a moment. Had Kanana 
asked a hundred camels or a thousand horse- 
men he would have added, “ Take them.” As 
it was, he said, a little doubtfully, “ What 
wouldst thou with my girdle ? ” 

In all the direct simplicity which clung to 
him in spite of everything, Kanana replied : “ I 
would hide it under my coat ; I would that it be 
proclaimed throughout the army that some one 
has fled to the enemy with the sacred girdle, and 
that a great reward be offered to him who shall 
return to Kahled any fragment of it he may find.” 
Without another word, the general unwound 


THE SACRED GIRDLE. 


139 


the sacred girdle, and Kanana, reverently touch- 
ing it to his forehead, bound it about him 
under his sheepskin coat. 

Kneeling he received the blessing, and leav- 
ing the tent, he selected the best of Kahled’s 
horses and disappeared in the darkness, alone. 

The next morning an oppressive sense of in- 
action hung about the headquarters. 

The only order issued accompanied an an- 
nouncement of the loss of the sacred girdle. 

Every soldier was commanded to be on the 
watch for it, to seize and to return at once to 
Kahled, even the smallest fragment which 
might be found. For this the fortunate man 
was promised as many gold coins as, lying flat, 
could be made to touch the piece which he 
returned. 


XII. 


kanana’s messengers. 

"Tj^AR and wide the impatient soldiers 
asked : “ Why is the army inactive ? ” 

“ Is not the motto of Kahled ‘ Waiting •does 
not win ’ ? ” 

“ Has he not taught us that action is the 
soul and secret of success ? ” 

“ Does he not realize that the hosts of Herac- 
lius are bearing down upon us, that he leaves 
us sitting idly in our tents ? ” 

“ Is Kahled the Invincible afraid ? ” 

Such were the questions which they put to 
their officers, but no one dared carry them to 
the general, who sat in his tent without speak- 
ing, from sunrise to sunset, the first day after 

the girdle disappeared. 

140 


kanana’s messengers. 


141 


“ Is it the loss of his girdle ? ” 

“ Did he not conquer Babylonia without it ? ” 
“ Does he not fight in the name of Allah and 
the Prophet? Could a bright- colored girdle 
give him strength ? ” 

Thus the second day went by. 

Kahled the Invincible was silent and sullen, 
and the impression grew and grew that in some 
way the safety and success of the whole army 
depended upon the recovery of that girdle. 

So intense was this sentiment, that when at 
midnight, after the third day, it was reported 
that a fragment of the girdle had been cap- 
tured by some scouts, and was then being 
taken to the general’s tent, the whole army 
roused itself and prepared for action. 

Not an order had been issued, yet every 
soldier felt instinctively that the coming 
morning would find him on the march. 

It was midnight. For a day Kahled had 
not even tasted food. He sat alone in his tent 
upon a Persian ottoman. A bronze vessel 


142 


kanana’s messengers. 


from Babylonia, filled with oil, stood near the 
center of the tent. Fragments of burning 
wick, floating in the oil, filled the tent with a 
mellow, amber light. 

There was excitement without, but Kahled 
did not heed it till a soldier unceremoniously 
entered, bearing in his hand a part of the 
curtain from the palace of Babylon. 

With a sudden ejaculation Kahled caught it 
from the soldier’s hand, but ashamed of having 
betrayed an emotion, he threw it carelessly 
upon the rug at his feet, handing the soldier a 
bag of gold, and bidding him see how many 
pieces, lying fiat, could touch it. 

The soldier worked slowly, carefully plan- 
ning the position as he laid the pieces down, 
and Kahled watched him as indifferently as 
though he were only moving men upon the 
Arab’s favorite checker board. 

When every piece that could was touching 
the camel skin, the soldier returned the bag, 
half-emptied, and began to gather up his share. 


kanana’s messengers. 


143 


Kahled deliberately emptied the bag, bidding 
him take the whole and go. 

He was leaving the tent when the general 
called him back. He had picked up the skin, 
and was carelessly turning it over in his hand. 
It was neatly cut from the girdle, in the shape 
of a shield, a little over a foot in width. 

“ How did you come by it ? ” Kahled asked 
indifferently. 

“We were searching the plain, a day’s 
journey to the north,” the soldier answered. 
“We were looking for travelers who might 
bring tidings of the enemy. We saw four 
strangers, Syrians, riding slowly, and a shep- 
herd who seemed to be their guide. Upon his 
horse’s front, hung like a breast plate, where 
every eye could see, was yonder piece of the 
sacred girdle. We dashed upon them, and the 
cowards ran. The shepherd was the last to 
turn. I was ahead, but not near enough to 
reach him, so I threw my lance. He fell from 
his horse and ” — 


144 


kanana’s messengers. 


“You killed him?” shrieked the general, 
springing to his feet and dropping the camel 
skin. 

‘‘ "No ! no ! ” gasped the frightened soldier. 
“ I only tried to. He wore a coat of sheepskin. 
It was too thick for my lance. He sprang to 
his feet, tore the lance from his coat, and ran 
after the rest, faster even than they could ride, 
leaving his horse behind.” 

“’Tis well,” muttered the general, and he 
devoutly added, ‘‘Allah be praised for that 
sheepskin coat ! ” 

The soldier left the tent, and going nearer 
to the light, Kahled examined the fragment of 
the sacred girdle. It was double. Two pieces 
had been cut and the edges joined together. 

He carefully separated them, and upon the 
inner side found what he evidently expected. 

These words had been scratched upon the 
leather, and traced with blood : 

“ Sixty thousand, from Antioch and Aleppo, 
under Jababal the traitor, encamp two days 


kanana’s messengers. 


145 


from Yermonk, north, waiting for Manuel with 
eighty thousand Greeks and Syrians, now six 
days away. Still another army is yet behind. 
Thy servant goes in search of Manuel when 
this is sent.” 

“ Allah be praised for that sheepskin coat ! ” 
Kahled repeated, placing the fragment in his 
belt, and walking slowly up and down the tent. 

“Jababal is two days to the north,” he 
added presently. “A day ago Manuel was 
six days behind him. He will be still three 
days behind when I reach Jababal, and while 
he is yet two days away, the sixty thousand in 
advance will be destroyed.” 

An order was given for ten thousand horse- 
men and fifteen thousand camel riders to start 
for the north at once. The soldiers expected 
it, and were ready even before the general. 

Four days and a night went by, and they 
were again encamped at Yermonk ; but Jaba- 
bal’s army of sixty thousand men, was a thing 
of the past. 


146 


kanana’s messengers. 


Again a strip of the girdle was discovered. 
This time it hung upon the neck of a camel 
leading into the camp a long caravan laden 
with grain and fruit. 

The camel-driver reported that one had met 
them while they were upon the way to supply 
the army of Manuel. He had warned them 
that Manuel would simply confiscate the whole 
and make them prisoners, and had promised 
that if they turned southward instead, to the 
camp of Kahled, with the talisman which he 
hung about the camel’s neck, they should be 
well received and fairly treated. 

From this talisman Kahled learned that the 
army of Manuel was almost destitute of pro- 
visions, and that a detachment with supplies 
was another five or six days behind. 

The general smiled as he thought how the 
Bedouin boy had shrewdly deprived the hungry 
enemy of a hundred and fifty camel loads of 
food, while he secured for himself an excellent 
messenger to his friends. 


kan-ana’s messej^gers. 


147 


During the night Manuel’s magnificent army 
arrived, and encamped just north of the 
Mohammedans. Manuel chose for his citadel 
a high cliff that rose abruptly out of the plain 
between the two armies, and ended in a pre- 
cipitous ledge toward Arabia. 

Standing upon the brow of this cliff, a little 
distance from the tent of Manuel, one could 
look far down the valley, over the entire 
Mohammedan encampment. 

When morning dawned, the prince sent for 
the leading Mohammedan generals to confer 
with him concerning terms of peace. He 
offered to allow the entire army to retire un- 
molested, if hostages were given that the 
Arabs should never again enter Syria. 

The Mohammedan generals, who had been 
thoroughly dismayed at the sight of the 
Grecian phalanx, thanked Allah for such a 
merciful deliverance, and instantly voted to ac- 
cept. The real authority, however, rested with 
Kahled, who replied, “ Remember Jababal ! ” 


148 


kanana’s messengers. 


With so many in favor of peace, Manuel 
hoped for an acceptance of his terms, and 
proposed that they consider the matter for a 
day. 

Kahled, with his hand upon the camel-skin 
in his belt, replied again : “ Remember Ja- 
babal ! ” 

He realized that his only hope of victory lay 
in striking a tired and hungry enemy, and that 
each hour’s delay was dangerous. Less than 
half an hour later he was riding along the line 
of battle shouting the battle cry : 

“ Paradise is before you ! Fight for it ! ” 

The soldiers were ready, and there began 
the most desperate struggle that was ever 
W’^aged upon the plains of Syria. 

All day long the furious conflict raged. 
Three times the Bedouins were driven back. 
Three times the cries and entreaties of their 
women and children in the rear urged them to 
renew the fight, and again they plunged 
furiously upon the solid Grecian phalanx,. 


kanana’s messengers. 


149 


Night came, and neither army had gained or 
lost, but among the Bedouin captives taken by 
the Greeks were several who recognized Ka- 
nana. They saw him moving freely about the 
enemy’s camp. They learned that he was sup- 
posed to be a servant who had fled, with other 
camp-followers, at the time of the slaughter of 
JababaPs army. They could see in it nothing 
but cowardly desertion. They said : 

“ He was afraid that we should be conquered, 
and instead of standing by us to fight for 
Arabia, he ran to the enemy to hide himself;” 
and in their anger they betrayed him. They 
reported to the Greeks that he was a Bedouin, 
of the army of Kahled, not a Syrian servant of 
Jababal. 

Kanana was quickly seized, bound and 
dragged into the presence of the prince. 
Manuel had suspected that some one had be- 
trayed both Jababal and himself to Kahled, 
and chagrined at the result of the first day’s 
battle, he fiercely accused Kanana. 


150 


kanana’s messengers. 


Calmly the Bedouin boy admitted that it 
was he who had given the information, and he 
waited without flinching as Manuel drew his 
sword. 

“ Boy, dost thou not fear to die ? ” he 
exclaimed, as he brandished his sword before 
Kanana. 

“I fear nothing! ” replied Kanana proudly. 

“ Take him away and guard him carefully,” 
muttered the prince. “ Dying is too easy for 
such as he. He must be tortured flrst.” 

The second day and the third were like the 
first. The army of the Prophet fought with a 
desperation that never has been equaled. The 
Ishmaelite counted his life as nothing so that 
he saw a Greek fall with him. It was the fate 
of Allah and Arabia for which they fought, 
and they stood as though rooted to the ground, 
knowing of no retreat but death. 

Again and again their general’s voice rang 
loud above the clashing arms : 

“ Paradise is before you if you fight ! Hell 


kanana’s messengers. 


151 


waits for him who runs ! ” And they fought 
and fought and fought, and not a man dared 
turn his back. 

Again and again the Grecian phalanx ad- 
vanced, but they found a wall before them as 
solid as the cliff behind them. 

When a Bedouin lay dead he ceased to 
fight, but not before ; and the moment he fell, 
another sprang forward from behind to take 
his place. 


XIII. 


THE LANCE OP KANANA. 


HE army of the Prophet had not retreated 



one foot from its original position, when 
night brought the third day’s battle to a close. 

Kahled sank upon the ground among his 
soldiers, while the women from the rear 
brought what refreshment they could to the 
tired warriors. 

All night he lay awake beside his gray 
battle-horse, looking at the stars and thinking. 

Flight or death would surely be the result 
of the coming day. Even Kahled the Invin- 
cible, had given up all hope of victory. 

He was too brave a man to fly, but he was 
also too brave to force others to stand and be 
slaughtered for his pride. 


152 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


153 


It was a bitter night for him, but as the 
eastern sky was tinged with gray, he at last 
resolved to make the sacrifice himself, and save 
such of his people as he could. 

The women and children, with the wounded 
who could be moved, must leave at once, taking 
all that they could carry with them, and scatter 
themselves in every direction. 

When they were well away, he, with such 
as preferred to stand and die with him, would 
hold the foe in check while the rest of the 
army retreated, with orders to march at once 
to Mecca and Medina, and hold those two 
sacred cities as long as a man remained alive. 

He breathed a deep sigh when the plan was 
completed, and rising, mounted his tired 
charger, to see that it was properly executed. 

It was the first time in his career that 
Kahled the Invincible had ordered a retreat, 
and his only consolation was that he was 
neither to lead nor join in it. 

In the camp of Manuel the same dread of 


154 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


the coming day clouded every brow. Food 
was entirely exhausted. Horses and camels 
had been devoured. They had neither the 
means with which to move away, nor the 
strength to stand their ground. 

Their solid phalanx was only what the 
enemy saw along the front. Rank after rank 
had been supplied from the rear till there was 
nothing left to call upon. 

All that remained of the eighty thousand 
iron-hearted fighters — the pride of the Em- 
peror Heraclius — as they gathered about the 
low camp fires, confessed that they were over- 
matched by the sharper steel of Mohammedan 
zeal and Bedouin patriotism. 

Manuel and his officers knew that for at 
least three days no relief could reach them; 
they knew, too, that they could not endure 
another day of fighting. 

“ If we could make them think that their 
men are deserting and joining us, we might 
frighten them,” suggested an officer. 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


155 


“ Send for the spy,” said Manuel quickly, 
“ and let it be proclaimed to the other prisoners 
that all who will join us shall be set free, and 
that those who refuse shall be slaughtered 
without mercy.” 

Haggard and worn Kanana stood before 
him. For fifty hours he had lain bound, in a 
cave at the foot of the cliff, without a drop of 
water or a morsel of food. 

“ I am about to torture thee,” said the prince. 
“ Thou hast wronged me more than thy suffer- 
ings can atone, but I shall make them as bitter 
as I can. Hast thou anything to say before 
the work begins ? ” 

Kanana thought for a moment, then, hesitat- 
ing as though still doubtful, he replied : 

“When the tempest rages on the desert, 
doth not the camel lay him down, and the 
young camel say to the drifting sand, ‘ Cover 
me ; kill me, I am helpless ’ ? But among the 
captives taken by the prince, I saw an old man 
pass my cave. He is full of years, and for him 


156 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


I would part my lips. I hear that the prince 
will have the prisoners slain, hut it is not the 
custom of my people to make the women, the 
old men and the children suffer with the rest. 
May it please the prince to double every tor- 
ture he has prepared for me, and in exchange 
to set that old man free ? ” 

“Who is he?” asked the prince. 

“ The one with a long white heard. There 
are not two,” replied Kanana. 

“ And what is he to you ? ” 

Kanana hesitated. 

“ He shall die unless you tell me,” said the 
prince, and Kanana’s cold lips trembled as he 
whispered : 

“ He is my father.” 

“’Tis well,” said Manuel. “Let him be 
brought.” 

The old man entered, but paused at the 
opposite side of the tent, looking reproachfully 
at his son. He had heard from the other 
captives how they had discovered Kanana, a 


THE LANCE OP KANANA. 


157 


deserter in the hour of danger, living in the 
tents of the enemy. Even he had believed 
the tale, and he was enough of a patriot to be 
glad that they betrayed his son. 

“Is this thy father ? ” asked the prince. 
“ He does not look it in his eyes.” 

Kanana simply bowed his head. 

That look was piercing his heart far deeper 
than the threats of torture ; but Manuel con- 
tinued : 

“ You have offered to suffer every torture I 
can devise if I will set him free. But you 
have not compassed your debt to me. You 
gave to Kahled the information by which he 
conquered J ababal. Y ou gave him information 
which prevented his making terms of peace 
with me. But for you I should be on my way 
to Mecca and Medina, to sweep them from the 
earth. But I like courage, and you have 
shown more of it than Kahled himself. It is a 
pity to throw a heart like yours under a clod 
of earth, and I will give you an opportunity to 


158 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


save both yourself and your father. Stand 
upon the brow of the cliff yonder, as the sun 
comes up. There, according to the custom of 
your people, wave this lance above your head. 
Shout your own name and your father’s, so 
that all of your people can hear, and tell them 
that in one hour thirty thousand Arabs will 
draw the sword for the cause of Heraclius. 
Then throw the lance, and if your aim be good, 
and you do kill an Arab, that moment I will 
set thy father free, and thou shalt be made a 
prince among my people. Do not refuse me, or, 
after 1 have tortured thee, with red-hot irons 
I will burn out thy father’s eyes, lest he should 
still look savagely upon thy corpse ! ” 

He had scarcely ceased speaking when the 
old sheik exclaimed : 

“ My son ! My Kanana, I have wronged 
thee ! Forgive me if thou canst, but let him 
burn out my eyes ! Oh ! not for all the eyes 
that watch the stars would 1 have a son of 
mine a traitor. Thou wouldst not lift a lance 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


159 


before. I charge thee now, by Allah, lift it not 
for any price that can be offered thee by this 
dog of an infidel ! ” 

Kanana did not look at his father. His eyes 
were fixed on Manuel, and when all was still, 
he asked : 

“ Will the prince allow his captive to sit 
alone till sunrise and consider his offer?” 

“ Take him out upon the cliff and let him 
sit alone,” said Manuel ; “ but have the irons 
heated for his father’s eyes.” 

Kanana chose a spot whence he could over- 
look the valley, and whatever his first intentions 
may have been, he changed them instantly, 
with his first glance. He started, strained his 
eyes, and looked as far as his keen sight could 
pierce the gray light of early morning. 

Then his head sank lower and lower over 
his hands, lying in his lap, till the wings of his 
turban completely covered them. He did not 
move or look again. 

In that one glance he had recognized the 


160 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


result of Kahled’s last resolve. In the gray- 
distance he saw that laden camels were moving 
to the south. He saw the dark spots, most 
distant in the valley, suddenly disappear. 
They were folding their tents ! They were 
moving away ! Kahled the Invincible had 
ordered a retreat. 

Kanana knew that to retreat at that moment 
meant death to Arabia, but he did not move 
again till an oflScer touched him on the shoulder, 
and warned him that in a moment more the sun 
would rise. 

With a startled shudder he rose and entered 
Manuel’s tent. 

“ Is the word of the prince unchanged ? ” he 
asked. “ If I speak the words and throw the 
lance and kill an Arab, that moment will he 
set my father free ? ” 

“ I swear it by all the powers of earth and 
heaven ! ” replied the prince. 

“ Give me the lance,” said Kanana. 

His father crouched against the tent, mut- 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


161 


tering: “For such an act, Kanana, when I am 
set free I will find first a fire to heat an iron, 
and burn my own eyes out.” 

Kanana did not heed him. He took the 
lance, tested it, and threw it scornfully upon 
the ground. 

“ Give me a heavier one ! ” he exclaimed. 
“ Do you think me like your Greek hoys, made 
of wax ? Give me a lance that, when it strikes, 
will kill.” 

They gave him a heavier lance. 

“ The hand-rest is too small for a Bedouin,” 
he muttered, grasping it ; “ but wait ! I can 
remedy that myself. Come. Let us have it 
over with.” 

As he spoke he tore a strip from beneath his 
coat, and, turning sharply about, walked before 
them to the brink of the cliff, winding the 
strip firmly about the hand-rest of the lance. 

Upon the very edge he stood erect and 
waited. 

The sun rose out of the plain, and flashed 


162 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


with blinding force upon the Bedouin boy, clad 
in his sheepskin coat and desert turban, pre- 
cisely as it had found him in the porch of 
Aaron’s tomb, upon the summit of Mount Hor. 

His hand no longer held a shepherd’s staff, 
but firmly grasped a Grecian lance, that 
gleamed and flashed as fiercely as the sun. 

Upon Mount Hor he was bending forward, 
eagerly shading his eyes, anxiously looking 
away into the dim distance, searching the path 
of his destiny. 

Now there was no eagerness. Calmly he 
stood there. Vainly the sun flashed in his 
clear, wide-open eyes. He did not even know 
that it was shining. 

Not a muscle moved. Why was he waiting? 

“ Are you afraid ? ” muttered the prince, 
who had come as near as possible without 
being too plainly seen from below. “ Remem- 
ber your old father’s eyes.” 

Kanana did not turn his head, but calmly 
answered : 


THE LANCE OP KANANA. 


163 


“Do you see yonder a man upon a gray 
horse, moving slowly among the soldiers ? He 
is coming nearer, nearer. That man is Kahled 
the Invincible. If he should come within 
range of the lance of Kanana, I suppose that 
Manuel would be well pleased to wait ? ” 

“ Good boy ! Brave boy ! ” replied the 
prince. “ When thou hast made thy mind to 
do a thing, thou doest it admirably. Kill him, 
and thou shalt be loaded down with gold till 
the day when thou diest of old age.” 

Kanana made no reply, but standing in bold 
relief upon the cliff, watched calmly and 
waited, till at last Kahled the Invincible left 
the line of soldiers, and alone rode nearer to 
the cliff. 

“ Now is your chance ! Now 1 now ! ” 
exclaimed the prince. 

Slowly Kanana raised the lance. Three 
times he waved it above his head. Three 
times he shouted : 

“I am Kanana, son of the Terror of the 


164 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


Desert ! ” in the manner of the Bedouin who 
challenges an enemy to fight, or meets a foe 
upon the plain. 

For a moment, then, he hesitated. The 
next sentence was hard to speak. He knew 
too well what the result would be. It needed 
now no straining of the eyes to see his destiny. 

All the vast army down below was looking 
up at him. Thousands would hear his words. 
Tens of thousands would see what followed 
them. 

“ Go on ! go on ! ” the prince ejaculated 
fiercely. 

Kanana drew a deep breath and shouted : 

“In one hour thirty thousand Arabs will 
draw the sword in the army of Heraclius ! ” 

Then gathering all his strength, he hurled 
the lance directly at the great Mohammedan 
general, who had not moved since he began to 
speak. 

Throughout those two great armies one 
might have heard a sparrow chirp, as the 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


165 


gleaming, flashing blade fell like a meteor from 
the cliff. 

The aim was accurate. The Bedouin hoy 
cringed, and one might have imagined that it 
was even more accurate than he meant. It 
pierced the gray charger. The war-horse of 
Kahled plunged forward and fell dead upon 
the plain. 

A fierce howl rose from the ranks of the 
Ishmaelites. Men and women shrieked and 
yelled. 

“ Kanana the traitor ! A curse upon the 
traitor Kanana! ” rent the very air. 

Such was the confusion which followed that, 
had the Greeks been ready to advance, a thou- 
sand might have put a hundred thousand Bed- 
ouins to flight. But they were not ready. 

Kanana stood motionless upon the cliff. He 
heard the yells of “ Traitor ! ” but he knew 
that they would come, and did not heed them. 

Calmly he watched till Kahled gained his 
feet, dragged the lance from his dying horse. 


166 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


and with it in his hand, hurried toward the 
soldiers. 

Onlj once he turned, and for an instant 
looked up at the solitary figure upon the cliff. 
He lifted his empty hand, as though it were a 
blessing and not a malediction, he bestowed 
upon the Bedouin boy; then he disappeared. 

With a deep, shivering sigh, Kanana pressed 
one hand beneath his sheepskin coat. A sharp 
contortion passed over him, but he turned 
about and stood calmly, face to face with 
Manuel. 

“ You did well,” said the prince, “ but you 
did not kill an Arab. It was for that I made 
my promise.” 

“ And if you kill an Arab,” gasped Kanana, 
“that moment I will set your father free! 
Those were the prince’s words! That was 
his promise, bound by all the powers of earth 
and heaven ! He will keep it ! He will not 
dare defy those powers, for I have killed 
an Arab ! ” 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


167 


Clutching the sheepskin coat, Kanana tore 
it open, and, above a brilliant girdle, they saw 
a dagger buried in his bleeding breast. He 
tottered, reeled, stepped backward, and fell 
over the brinlc of the cliff. 

“ You may as well go free,” said Manuel, 
turning to the sheik. . “A monstrous sacrifice 
has just been made to purchase your liberty.” 

Turning abruptly he entered his tent to con- 
sider, with his ofiicers, the next result. 

“ 1 think they are flying,” an officer reported, 
coming from the cliff. “ The horsemen and 
camels are hurrying into the hills. Only foot 
soldiers seem remaining in the front.” 

“ Let every soldier face them who has 
strength to stand ! ” commanded the prince. 
“ Put everything to the front, and if they fly 
give them every possible encouragement.” 

The order was obeyed, and the fourth day of 
battle began ; but it was spiritless and slow. 

The Bedouins, with their constantly thinning 
ranks, stood with grim determination where 


168 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


their feet rested, but they made no effort tc 
advance. 

The wearied out and starving Grecian pha 
lanx simply held its ground. The prince was 
not there to urge his soldiers on. The voice of 
Kahled did not sound among the Mussulmans. 

An hour went by. 

Suddenly there was an uproar in the rear 
of the army of Heraclius. There was a 
wild shout, a clash of arms, and the watch- 
word of Islam rang above the tumult, in 
every direction. 

Ten thousand horse and twenty thousand 
war-camels poured in upon that defenseless 
rear, and, even as Kanana had declared, in just 
one hour there were thirty thousand Arabs 
wielding their savage swords in the army of 
Heraclius. 

Another hour went by. The battle cry 
of Kahled ceased. The shout of victory 
rang from the throats of the Mussulmans. 
Manuel and all his officers were slain. The 



(iAVK IT HIM/’ SAID KAHLED SOLEMNLY. 





ciV 







♦ • JT*’ 


> .. 


‘f 


111 t , 




i! 


f iL- ^ <■■ , ;- ■ 


*••■-. . .. 

...... ^ '■ 

'*lV • T*t ** ‘ *'■ 




^ rli 











^ > X ■ 




■ ^ ^ 

» 1 ^ , 

■p ^ 

i ••' 

^ €i . 

..r ^ 

» •- r j 

p 


4 

'-t-' 

1 

4 

r. 



. .n • 




J? .*3 



A f- 




I 


« ] 


• V. : 














•■ )• 






A. 






‘•-it-: 4u :i^ * "f‘ ,: * -V. 






-%i 


.-J.1 






• •« 


.1i 



THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


171 


magnificent army of Heraclius was literally 
obliterated. 

Treasure without limit glutted the conquered 
camp. Arabia was saved. 

Quickly the soldiers erected a gorgeous 
throne and summoned Kahled to sit upon it, 
while they feasted about him and did him 
honor as their victorious and invincible leader. 

The veteran warrior responded to their call, 
but he came from his tent with his head bowed 
down, bearing in his arms a heavy burden. 
Slowly he mounted the platform, and upon the 
sumptuous throne he laid his burden down. 

It was the bruised and lifeless body of 
Kanana. 

With trembling hand the grim chief drew 
back the sheepskin coat, and all men then be- 
held, bound about the Bedouin boy, the sacred 
girdle ! 

“ I gave it him,” said Kahled solemnly ; 
“ and upon the fragments you have returned to 
me, he wrote the information by which we con- 


172 


THE LANCE OF KANANA. 


quered Jababal and Manuel. You saw him 
throw this lance at me ; you called him ‘ traitor !’ 
but about the hand-rest there was wound this 
strip. See ! In blood — in his blood, these 
words are written here : ‘ Do not retreat. The 
infidels are starving and dying. Strike them 
in the rear.’ It was his only means of reaching 
me. It was not the act of a traitor. No ! It 
was the Lance of Kanana that rescued Arabia.” 



D. LOTHROP COMPANY’S 


^ ' 

BOYD (Pliny Steele). 

UP AND DOWN THE MERRIMAC. Illustrated, i2mo, 

1 , 00 . 

A vacation trip upon one of the most charming rivers m the world, made in a dory 
by the author and his two sons for the purpose of hunting, fishing and a good time 
generally. 

“ The author is a shrewd thinker; his run through its pages render it peculiarly 
reflections upon men and things which attractive. ’ — Philadelphia Item. 


BOYDEN (Anna L.). 

ECHOES FROM HOSPITAL AND WHITE HOUSE. 


i2mo, 1.00. ( 4 ) 

“ Anna L. Boyden has undertaken to 
commemorate the services of Mrs. Re- 
becca R Pomroy in the hospitals of the 
army and in the family of President 
Lincoln during the Rebellion The book 


!s a well-written, earnest account of Mrs. 
Pomroy’s valuable work as a nurse, and, 
as such, an addition which all will be 
glad to have to the bibliography of the 
late War .’* — Chicago Tributie. 


BOYESEN (Hjalmar Hjorth). 

VAGABOND TALES. Square i2mo, 1.25. 

A collection of characteristic novellettes by one of the most entertaining and most 
popular of modern story-tellers. No writer living — scarcely excepting even the great 
Bjomstein — so thoroughly understands the Norse character and when into this is in- 
fused the American element, the succes of Prof. Boyesen’s tales is easily understood. 
Tliere is a breeziness, a vigor and a manliness about his characters that captivate the 
reader at once and combine dramatic force with literary skill. The stories included in 
this volume are: Crooked John; A Child of the Age; Monk Tellenbach’s Exile; 
A Disastrous Partnership; Liberty’s Victim; A Pertlous Incognito; Charity. 


BOY’S WORKSHOP (A). 

By a Boy and his Friends. With an introduction by Henry Ran- 
dall Waite. Illustrated, i2mo, i.oo. 


Written by ‘ a boy and his friends,’ and 
takes > ju right into A Boy's IVorkshop ; 
tells y'lu how to make and to use a saw- 
horse and a work-bench ; how to use 
tools and to care for them ; lets you into 
the secret of book-rests, foot-rests, tables, 
cabinets, catch-alls, etc. ; shows you how 
to build wooden tents, make a fernery, 
construct a railway and train, bind mag- 
azines, take photographs, tie knots, and 


do a great many other things. It is a 
book that every boy would like to have, 
and that he ought to have.” — Ad^atice^ 
Chicago. 

” Next to actual sendee with an intel- 
ligent carpenter or cabinet-maker this 
book is to be valued for its instruction in 
the art and mystery of tools.” — Chris- 
tian Advocate^ New York. 


BRAVE GIRLS. 

i2mo, illustrated, r.50. 

When young people see the name of Nora Perry, Mary Hartwell Catherwood or 
Frank H. Converse appended to a story, they prick up their ears at once, for they 
have 1 ;arned to expect something of unusual interest. They will not be disappointed 
when they open this book and read about CUen Hastings, Kate Oxford, Sharly Ray- 
mond and Bessy May — brave girls every one, but in divers ways. Other writers 
almost as well known as these favorites have helped in no slight degree to swell this 
tribute to the girls. 


SELECT LIST OF BOOKS. 


EASTMAN (Julia A.). 


Miss Eastman has a large circle of young admirers. She carries off the palm as ' 
•writer of scliool-life stories, and teachers are always glad to find their scholars reading 
Miss Eastman’s books. Her style is characterized by quick movements, sparkling 
expression and incisive knowledge of human nature. 


KITTY KENT’S TROUBLES. i2mo, illustrated, 1.25. ( 5 ) 


“ Miss Eastman, it will be remembered, 
took tlie prize of one thousand dollars 
oflered several years ago by this house. 
The heroine of the present book is the 
daughter of a clergyman, ‘ a girl who was 
neither all good nor all bad, but partly the 
one and partly the other ’ ; and the narra- 


tive of her trials and experiences is in- 
tended as a guide and help to other girls 
who have those of the same kind to con- 
tend with, and to impress upon them the 
lesson that ‘ the only road to happinesr 
lies through the land of goodness.’ ” — 

E. Journal of Education. 


STRIKING FOR THE RIGHT. i2mo, illustrated, 1.25. (3 

A story illustrating the necessity of kindness to animals. The pupils of the Eastforo 
High School form a humane society which does a noble work. 

A Premium of ;^iooo was awarded the author for this MS. by the examining committee 


SHORT COMINGS AND LONG GOINGS. i2mo, illus 
trated, 1.25. 

The ups and downs of wide-awake boy and girl life in a country home. 


SCHOOLDAYS OF BEULAH ROMNEY. i2mo, ill us 
trated, 1.25. ( 5 ) 

An aged Christian woman befriends a dozen careless schoolgirls and helps them ou 
of the many troubles that invade their lives 


YOUNG RICK. i2mo, 12 full-page illustrations by Sol. 
Eytinge, Jr., 1.25 ( 5 ) 

Young Rick was a genuine boy, mischievous and motherless. Aunt Lesbia, with 
whom he lived, was not used to children and found it no easy task to look after him. 
In the end, however, her kindness and good sense made a man of liim. 


THE ROMNEYS OF RIDGEMONT. i2mo, illustrated 
1.25. ( 5 ) 

A story of the New England hills ; of sugaring and haymow conferences and old 
fashioned picnics. 


EASY READING. 


Chromo on side. Numerous illustrations, 6 vols., i8mo, 1.5a 


Ea.sy Reading. 
Birds and Fishes. 
Book of Animals. 


Natural History. 
Illustrated Primer. 
Book of Birds. 


D. LOTHROP COMPANY’S 


ALLEN (Willis Boyd). 

PINE CONES. 1 2mo. illustrated, I. oo. 


“ Pine Cones sketches the adventures 
ot a dozen wide-awake boys and gills in 
the woods, along the streams and over 
the mountains. It is good, wholesome 
reading that will make boys nobler and 
girls gentler. It has nothing of the over- 
goody flavor, but they are simply honest, 
live, healthy young folks, with warm 
blood in their veins and good impulses 
in their hearts, and are out for a good 


time. It will make old blood run warmer 
and revive old times to hear them whoop 
and see them scamper. No man or 
woman has a right to grow too old to 
enjoy seeing the y..ung enjoy the spring 
days of life. It is a breezy, joyous, en- 
tertaining book, and we commend it to 
our young readers.” — ChUago Inter- 
Ocean. 


SILVER RAGS. i 2 mo, illustrated, i.oo. 


“Silver Rags is a continuation of 
Pine Cones and is quite as delightful 
reading as its predecessor. The story 
describes a jolly vacation in Maine, and 
the sayings and doings of the city boys 
and girls are varied by short stories, sup- 
posed to be told by a good-natured ‘ U ncle 
Will.’ ” — The iVatchnian, Boston. 


“ Mr. Willis Boyd Allen is one of our 
finest writers of juvenile fiction. There 
is an open fiankness in Mr. Allen’s 
characters which render them quite as 
novel as they are interesting, and his 
simplicity of style makes the whole story 
as fresh and breezy as the pine woods 
themselves.” — Boston Herald. 


THE NORTHERN CROSS. i2mo, illustrated, i.oo. 


“ The Northern Cross, a story of the 
Boston Latin School by Willis Boyd 
Allen, is a capital book for boys. Be- 
ginning with a drill upon Boston Com- 
mon, the book continues with many inci- 
dents of school life. There are recita- 
tions, with their successes and failures, 
drills and exhibitions. Over all is Dr. 
Francis Gardner, the stern, eccentric, 
warm-hearted Head Master, whom once 
to meet was to remember forever! The 


idea of the Northern Cross for young 
crusaders gives an imaginary tinge to the 
healthy realism.” — Boston Journal. 

“ Mr. Willis Boyd Allen appeals to a 
large audience when he tells a story of 
the Boston Latin School in the last year 
of Master Gardner’s life. And even 'o 
those who never had the privilege of 
studying there the story is pleasant and 
lively.” — Boston Post. 


KELP : A Story of the Isle of Shoals. i2mo, illustrated, i.oo. 

This is the latest of the Pine Cone Series and introduces the same characters. Their 
adventures are nowon a lonely little island, one of the Shoals, wheie they camp out 
and have a glorious time not unmarked by certain perilous episodes which heighten 
the interest of the story. It is really the best of a series of which all are delightful 
reading for young people. 

“ It is a healthful, clean, bright book, fully through the veins of young read- 
which will make the blood course health- ers.” — Chicago Inter-Ocean. 


ANAGNOS (Julia R.). 

PHILOSOPHI.® QU.®STOR; or. Days at Concord. i2mo, 

6 o cents. 

In this unique book, Mrs. Julia R. Anagnos, one of the accomplished daughters of 
Julia Ward Howe, presents, under cover of a pleasing narrative, a sketch of the 
Emerson session of the Concord School of Philosophy. It has for its frontispiece aq 
excellent picture of the building occupied by this renowned school. 


“ The seeker of philosophical truth, 
w'ho is described as the shadowy figure of 
a young girl, is throughout very expres- 
sive of desire and appreciation. The im- 
pressions she receives are those to which 
such a condition are most sensitive — the 
higher and more refined ones — and the 
res))onsive thoughts concern the nature 
and character of w'hat is heard or felt. 
Mrs. .Anagnos has written a prose poem. 


in which the last two sessions of the 
Concord School of Philosophy, which 
include that in memory of Emerson, and 
its lecturers excite her feelings and inspire 
her thought. It is sung in lofty strains 
that resemble those of the sacred woods 
and fount, and themselves are communi- 
cative of their. spirit. It will be welcomed 
as an appropriate souvenir.” — Bostot^ 
Globe. 


SELECT LIST OF BOOKS. 


(Versified). With 72 full-page illustrations 
Sweeney, Barnes and Hassam. Quarto 


BATES (Clara Doiy). 

.ffiSOP’S FABLES 
by Garrett, Lungren, 

cloth, 1.50. (4) 

“ Mrs. Bates has turned the wit and 
wisdom in a dozen ot .^sop’s Fables 
into jolly rhythmical narratives, whose 
good humor will be appreciated by wide- 

BLIND JAKEY. 
HEART’S CONTENT. 
See Child Lore 


awake young people.” — Bosiofi Jourtial. 

“ The illustrations introduce all cla.sses 
of subiects, and are original and superior 
work. ’’ — Boston Globe. 


Illustrated, i6mo, .50. ( 5 ) 

i2mo, 1.25. 

(Clara Doty Bates, editor). 


BATES (Katherine Lee). 

SUNSHINE. Oblong 32mo, illustrated by W. L. Taylor, .50. 

A little poem, m which the wild flowers and sunshine play their part in driving 
away the bad temper of a little lass who had hidden away in the grass in a fit of sulks. 

SANTA CLAUS RIDDLE. A Poem. Square i2mo, illus- 
trated in colors, paper, .35. 

See Wedding-Day Book (Katherine Lee Bates editor). 


BEDSIDE POETRY. 


Edited by Wendell P. Garrison. i6mo, plain cloth, .75; fancy 
cloth, 1. 00. 


This collection is for the home, and for a particular season. “ Few fathers and 
mothers.” says Mr. Garrison, “appreciate the peculiar value of the bedtime hour for 
confirming filial and pa'^ental affection, and for conveying reproof to ears never so 
attentive or resistlesss. Words said then sink deep, and ihe reading of poetry of a 
high moral tone and, at the same time, of an attractive character, is apt to plant seed 
which will bear good fruit in the future.” 


“There is seldom a compilation of 
verse at once so wisely limited and so 
well extended, so choice in character and 
so fine in quality as Bedside Poetry, edi- 
ted by Wendell P. Garrison. He has 
chosen four-score pieces ‘ of a rather high 
order, the remembrance of which will be 
a joy forever and a potent factor in the 
formation not merely of character but of 
literary taste.’ Therefore he has given 


Emerson and Cowper, Wordsworth, 
Leigh Hunt, Shelley, Southey, Coler- 
idge, William Blake, Burns, Thackeray, 
Lowell, Tennyson, Shakespeare, Mrs. 
Hemans, Mrs. Kemble, Holmes, Whit- 
tier and Arthur Hugh Clough. We find 
cheer and courage, truth and fortitude, 
purity and humor, and all the great posi- 
tive virtues, put convincingly in these 
selections.” — Sprtng^eld Republican. 


BELL (Mrs. Lucia Chase). 

TRUE BLUE. i2mo, 10 illustrations by Merrill, 1.25. ( 5 ; 

The scene is laid in the far West, and the incidents are such as could only occur in 
a newly developed country, where even children are taught to depend upon themselves, 

“Doe, the warm-hearted, irrpulsive copying by those who read her adven- 

heroine of the story, is an original char- tures and experiences.” — Detroit 

acter, and one whose ways are well worth 


D. LOTHROP COMPANY’S 


BAILY (Rev. Thomas L.). 

POSSIBILITIES. i2mo, 1.25. 

The author gives at the opening the picture of a country village school which, 
through lack of tact and knowledge on the part of teachers and of interest on the 
part of parents, had become almost worthless. A new teacher, with a mind and 
method of her own, is engaged for a term, and she sets at work with a determination 
to revo utionize the existing condition of things. It requires a good deal of tact and 
management to eniist parents and pupils in her plans, bui she does it by quiet persist- 
eiice, and the end of the term sees not only a remarkable change in the school, but in 
the village itself. 

“ As a general rule novels with a pur- exceptions, how'ever, and one of these is 

pose are dry reading. There are brilliant ‘ Possibilities.’ ” — A Ibatiy A rgns. 


ONLY ME. i2mo, 1.25. 

“ Wc are taken back to the days when 
the watchman n ade his nightly rounds 
to call the hour and the state of the 
weather. On his return from one of 
these rounds on a snowy night, a good- 
hearted watchman finds a little fellow 
half starved and half frozen, crouched 
against the little sentry-box in which he 
aimself found shelter between his rounds. 


The boy is taken heme by the watchman, 
and the story follows him through early 
years and through his experience as bound 
boy on a farm, and his subsequent start- 
ing in life in a store in the city wheie he 
rises to be confidential clerk and at last 
partner in the firm.” — Natiofud Bap~ 
tist, Phila. 


BAKER (Ella M.). 


CLOVER LEAVES: A collection of Poems. Compiled and 


arranged by K. G. B. lamo, cloth, 1,00; gilt edges, 1.25. 

A brief memoir tells the story of the short life of the young poet. 


“The author of these poems was 
"lossessed of the rarest loveliness of per- 
•on and character, and she has left behind 
ler a memory fragrant with blessing, 
tier verse was the natural outcome of 
ler beautiful soul; its exceeding delicacy 
and sweetness are sufficient to charm all 
who have the answering sentiment to 


which it appeals.” — Sprmgjield Repub- 
lican. 

“ One rises from the perusal of these 
poems with the feeling of having been 
brought very near to a Christian woman’s 
heart, and of having caught the utter- 
ances of a truly devout spirit.” — Morn- 
inf^ Star. 


SOLDIER AND SERVANT. i2mo, 1.25. 


“ A pretty and helpful story of girl 
ife. Six or seven girls band themselves 
.ogether to cultivate their talents 111 the 
Dest possible manner, and to let their 
ight shine whenever and wherever they 
;an. The girls vary greatly, but each 
one IS determined to do her best w'ith the 
naterial that the Lord has given her. 


Their several successes and failures are 
told, and many lessons are drawn from 
their work.” — Golden Rule, Boston. 

“ The book is remarkably entertain- 
ing, sensible and spiritually stimulating. 
It is the best book of the kind that we 
have seen in many months.” — Congre- 
gationalist. 


SEVEN EASTER LILIES. i2mo, 1.25. 

A story for girls, pure, sweet, and full of encouragement, and calculated to exert a 
strong influence for good. The author feels that there is something peculiarly 
sacred and tender about Easter lilies, partly, perhaps, from their association with the 
day and season whose name they bear. The story tells what became of seven lilies 
which were tended by as many different hands in different homes, and how they 
affected those homes by the silent lessons they taught. 

CHRISTMAS PIE STORIES. i2mo, illustrated, 1.25. 

Never was such a Christmas pie before, nor such plums! Not one, but seven Jack 
Horner pulled out of that pie, and every plum was a Christmas story told by each 
member of the family from grandma down. The wonderful pie lost nothing in beinf 
warmed over for Aunt Moneywort who was too ill to be at the feast. 


SELECT LIST OF BOOKS. 


FAITH AND ACTION. 

Selections from the writings of F. D. Maurice. With preface by 
Rev. Phillips Brooks, D. D. i2mo, i.oo. 

Few English clergymen are better known in this country than Frederic D. Maurice, 
whose untimely death, some years ago, deprived not only England, but tlie Christian 
world, of one of its ablest religious teacliers. He devoted a great deal of his time to 
the social and religious needs of the common people. 

Maurice was a dear friend of Tennyson. The following lines in one of the poet’s 
best-known pieces .efer to his friend ; 

“ How best to help the slender store. 

How mend the dwellings of the poor. 

How gain in life as life advances. 

Valor and charity more and more,” 


FARMAN (filla). (Mrs. C. S. Pratt.) 

Ella Farman is the editor of Wide Awake, and her books are full of sympathy with 
girl-life, always sunshiny and hopeful, always pointing out new ways to do things and 
unexpected causes for happiness and gladness. 


THE COOKING-CLUB OF TU-WHIT HOLLOW. 

l2mo, illustrated. 1.25. 

The practical instructions in housewifery, which are abundant, are set in the midst 
of a bright wholesome story. Girls who read this book will not be able to keeji hoii.se 
at once, but they will learn to do some things, and they will have an hour or two of 
genuine pleasure in discovering how there came to be a cooking-club and in tracing its 
history. 

GOOD-FOR-NOTHING POLLY. i2mo, illustrated, i.oo. 

Polly is not a girl at all, but a boy, a slangy, school-hating, fun-lov'ng, wilful, big- 
fiearted boy. “ Nagsed ” continually at home, he wastes his time upon the streets and 
finally runs away. The book tells of his adventures. Mrs. Pratt has a keen insight 
into the joys and sorrow of the little appreciated boy-life. Like Robert J, Burdette, 
she is a master of humor and often touches a tender chord of pathos. Every boy will 
he delighted with this book and every mother ought to read it who is, all unwittingly 
perhaps, “freezing” her own noisy boy out of the home. 

“‘Good-for-Nothing Polly ’will doubt- England as it has already done in the 
less gam the admiration and win the United States.” — BoaiseZ/er, London. 
graces of as large a circle of readers in 


HOW TWO GIRLS TRIED FARMING. i2mo, illustrated, 


I.oo. 

A narrative of an actual experience. 

“ The two girls who tried farming 
solved a problem by taking the bull by 
the horns, and that is often as effectual a 
means as can be resorted to. They had 
for capital one thousand dollars. With 
this they bought thirty-five acres of 
scraggy farm land. Then they hired out 
as lady help for the winter and laid by 
enough money to buy clover seed, and a 
horse and a few other necessities. Dolly 
had learned to plough and harrow and 
make hay, and even to cut wood. Both 
girls worked hard and it is pleasant to 
chronicle their success. Now they have 
a prosperous farm, and raise cows, sheep. 


pigs and chickens, and as they do every- 
thing to the best of their ability, their 
products are in constant demand.” — Si. 
Louis Post Despatch. 

“We recommend it to those girls who 
are wearing out their lives at the sewing- 
machine, behind counters or even at the 
teacher’s desk .” — New York Herald. 

“ The success of the farm is almost 
surpassed by the charm of the record. 
It shows a touch of refinement and a 
degree of literary skill no less uncommon 
than the enterprise which has converted 
a bleak hill-top of Michiean into a sinib 
ing garden. AVr*! York Tribune. 







/ 








f 


y 

. t 


IN 







